IRISH Ecclesiastical Record. 1898
4th series. Jan. -June. v. 3 *
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
I
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
& ilontfjfo Journal, untJcr Episcopal Sanction
VOLUME III.
JANUARY TO JUNE, 1898
jFourtfj Scries
DUBLIN
BROWNE & NOLAN, LIMITED, NASSAU-STREET
1898
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Nihil Obstat.
GlKALDUS MOLLOY, S.T.D.,
CENSOR DEP.
Jtnprimatur.
* GULIELMUS,
Arehiep. Diillin., Hiberniae
BKDWXE & NOLA?:, LTD., XA.SSAU-STKEET, DUBLIN.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Aileach of the Kings : A Brief Sketch of the History and Traditions
of the Ancient Northern Residence of the Irish Kings. By Most
Rev. Dr. O'Doherty - - ?,S">
Archbishop Troy. By Rev. N. Murphy, p.p. - - , 232
Cardinal Wiseman, The Policy of. By Rev. "William Barry, D.D. •• 117
Continuity Theory, The. By Right Rev. Mgr. John S. Vaughan 18
Convention of Drum Ceat, The. By Most Rev. Dr, O'Doherty - 289
Correspondence :—
The Ancient Irish Church - . 74, 174,264
The Priest in Nationality - - 549
Dante's First Defender. By Edmund G. Gardner, MA. - 156
^Documents :—
Accumulating Impediments, Faculties for - - 464
Archconfraternity of Our Lady o£ Compassion - , - 179
Banners to be carried in Procession - 365
Baptism, Form of, up to fourteen years of age - - - 471
Books prohibited by the Ordinary - - 468
Books, The Decree of the Index on the Prohibition and Censure of 564
Burial, The, of Amputated Members - - - 567
Ceremonies of Low Mass - - 369
Churches and Church Practices in England, Decision of Congre-
gation of Rites - 371
Commentarius de Judicio Sacrimentali - 287
Condiments on Fast Days - - 375
Confraternities at Procession of Blessed Sacrament - - 366
Conversion of England - 179
Decree regarding Pious Unions and Societies - 662
' Decreta Authentica ' of the Congregation of Rites - 376
Dispensations in Ago, Extent of Bishops' powers - - 365
Encyclical of His Holiness Leo XIII. to Canadian Bishops - 272
Error in ' Supplex Libellus ' - 564
Excommunications by Roman Congregations - 365
Extraordinary Confessors of Nuns 27H
Faculties for Accumulating Impediments .... 464
Faculties granted to American Bishops - - 557
Fasting during Advent, Dispensation in the law of 559
Faculties, Succession of 465
Form of Baptism up to fourteen years of age . - 471
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DOCUMENTS — continued.
Glass. Decision regarding the use of, in the ' Crescent Lunette ' 555
Indulgences for St. Anthony of Padua - 463
Indulgence of a Privileged Altar - 563
Italian Priests in America 559
Leo XIII. to God and the Virgin Mother - 88
Litanies of the Holy Family 373
Litanies, Special - 374
Manitoba Schools' Encyclical 272
Marriages of Freethinkers. Sectaries, and Catholics who refuse to
fulfil their Christian Duties - - 565
Method of Filling a Vacant Bishopric in Ireland 4*2
' Oratio Irnperata ' in another Diocese - 376
Ordinatiou, The Form of, corrupted by Inadvertence .">57
Ordination, Certain Defects in 367, 471
Paschal Baylon, St., Patron of Eucharistic Congresses - 469
' Per Modum Potus,' What is meant by, in dispensations in the law
of Fasting 5(i8
Relics of the Sacred Passion - - 561
Requiem Masses, The Privilege of Singing, twice a week - - ").">•">
' Sanatio in radice,' A Case of - 466
Solution of Doubts regarding Extraordinary Confessors of nuns - 278
Some of the Fruits of Fifty Years : Annals of Catholic Church in
Victoria 285
Succession of Faculties 465
Water and Cement, The Ble-sing of, for the Altar - 55(5
Ecclesiological Art in Ireland, The Decadence of. By Michael J. C.
Buckley, M.E.S.A.I. 317
Exiles, Irish, in Brittany. By Rev. A. Walsh, o.s A. 32:5
Glen of Altadavin. The. By Rev. T. Livius, C.SS.E. 316
Kilkenny and Bishop Rothe. By Rev. N. Murphy 536
Letters, Another Batch of. By Hev. Matthew Russell, s.J. 345
Modern Scientific Materialism. By Rev. E. Gaynor, C.M. 193
Monasteries, Irish, in Germany. By Rev. J. F. Hojran - r>>ti
'Muls' and 'Gils', The: Some Irish Surnames. By Rev. E.
O'Growney 4'? 3, 4'I2
•Rotes an& (Queries :—
LITURGY (By Rev. Daniel O'Loan, D.D.) :—
Candles, The quality of, to be used during Mass &c. 2fi2
Chasuble, Why did Gothic, fall into disuse - 260
Expo>ition of the Blessed Sacrament •"> 1 7
Mitre, Why was present large, substituted for small one of earlier
times ? - 260
Procession and Benediction, Questions regarding - 258
Scapulars, Questions on the - -257
Throne, May a Movable, be used for Exposition of M<.sf Holy
Sacrament ':
Votive Mass of the Holy Ghost
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
NOTES AXD QUERIES — continued.
THEOLOGY (By Kev. Daniel Mannix, D.D.) : —
Absolution from a Reserved Sin and the Maynobth Synodal
Decrees - - 358
Condemned Secret Societies - 449
Communion of the Sick 70
Mass on board ship - 4.">0
Masses for the Dead - 171
Maynooth Synodal Decrees and Absolution from a Reserved Sin - 358
Matrimonial Dispensations, Cumulation of - - 451
November Offerings - 72
Nuptial Blessing : Can Catholics, validly married at a Registry
Office or in a Protestant Church, subsequently receive the
Nuptial Blessing r - 254
Protestant Witnesses at Marriage of Catholics - - . 254
Sick, Communion of - 70
•Notices of JSoofcs :—
America, Our Lady of, 476; Annals of the Church in Victoria,
285; Augustine, St., Life of, 93; Biblia Sacra juxta Vulgatae
Exemplaria et Correctoria Romana, 91 ; Blessed John of Avila,
Life of, 574 ; Breviarium Rornanum, 186, 473; Canonical
Procedure in Disciplinary and Criminal Cases of Clerics, 569 ;
Catholic Ceremonies and Explanation of the Ecclesiastical
Year, 381 ; Cantus Sacri, 382 ; Chants, Twelve Eucharistic,
383 ; Commentarius de Judicio Sacramentali, 287 ; Data of
Modern Ethics, 382 ; Eucharistic Christ, The, 280 : First
Christian Mission to the Great Mogul, 95 ; General Introduction
to the Study of Holy Scripture, 92 ; Gregorian Music, 478 ; Hand-
book of Rules for Singing and Phrasing Plain Song, 478 ; Horac
Diurnae, 186, 473 ; Institutiones Theologiae Dogmaticac, 187 ;
Le Costume et les Usages Ecclesiastiques selon la Tradition
Romaiiie, 474 ; Missa Immaculata i. h. B. M. Virginis Immaculatae
ad III. voc. aequ, 381; Missa in Honorem Sancti Spiritus, 383 ; Missa
in Houorem Purissimi Cordis, B.V.M., 383 ; Missale Romanum
(Mame etFils), 473 ; Moral Principles and Medical Practice, 379 ;
My Life in Two Hemispheres, 279 ; Missa : Mater Salvatoris, 574 ;
Praelectiones Dogmaticae quas in Collegio Ditton Hall habebat
Christianus Pesch, s.j., 378 ; Rituale Romanum (Mame ct Fils),
473 ; Sermons, 190 ; Sermons and Moral Discourses for all the
Sundays of the Tear, 377 ; Shall and Will, 89 ; Sister Aime
Katharine Emmerich, 573 ; Songs of Sion, 18o ; Theologia Month's
per Modum Conferentiarum, 382 ; Very Rev. Father Dominic of
the Mother of God, Life of, «">75 ; Vita Jesu Christi, 478 ;
Wiseman, Cardinal, Life and Times of, 89.
Oliver Kelly, Archbishop of Tuam. 13y R. J. Kelly, Esq., B.L. - 417
Origin and Conservation of Motion. By Rev. M. Barrett - 60
Phoenicia and Israel. By Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P. 38
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Reason's Synthetic Judgments. By Rev.T. J. O'Mahony, D.D. -J4o
Redmond O'Gallagher, the Martyr-Bishop of Derry. By Most Rev.
Dr. O'Doherty • 1
Socialism, The Economic Aspect of. By Rev. M. Cronin, D.D., M.A. 140
Tara, Pagan and Christian. By Most Rev. Dr. Healy 97
Two Great Spiritual Associations. By J. A. Cullen, s.j. - - 513
Victor Vitensis on the Vandal Persecution. By Philip Burton, C.M. - 481
Yellow Steeple of Trim, The/. By Very Rev. Philip Gallery, v.r., v.r. - 438
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, THE MARTYR*
BISHOP OF DERRY
IN reading over the history of the Church in these
kingdoms during the Elizabethan period we are struck
with the similarity of the sufferings endured by our
ancestors in the early days of the Reformation, with
the account which St. Paul gives of the sufferings inflicted
on God's servants in the Old Law. Indeed, one would
think it was Elizabeth's victims that great Apostle was
sketching, and that he wrote from Ireland instead of from
Italy to the Jews in Palestine. What truer description of
the lives of the Irish bishops and priests in the penal days
could be given than that
They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted,
they were put to death by the sword ; they wandered about in
sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted ; of
whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in
mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth.1
It was a sad period — an anticipation of the days of
Antichrist. In England the scaffolds reeked with blood ;
the dungeons were rilled with the flower of the nobility ;
whilst the fiendish atrocities to which priests and bishops
were alike subjected make one pause to inquire were the
authors of these barbarities human. In Ireland it was still
1 Heb. xi. 37 38
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III. — JANUARY, 18(J8.
2 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
worse ; for here, to the greed of gain and hatred of
the Church, was added that racial hatred which has ever
existed since the days of the second Henry, and which at
that period stirred to its lowest depths the savage nature of
the British myrmidons. Their rulers urged them on to
exterminate the ' mere Irish,' and wealth and honour
crowned the murderer of the priest or the bishop. Altars
were desecrated, churches were razed to their foundations,
education banned, and innocent blood poured out, amid the
scoffs and jeers of a brutal soldiery. Such, in Ireland, was
the reign which in cruel irony has been called glorious, such
the fate of those faithful servants of Christ who had the
courage to profess themselves children of that Church
whose centre is the See of Peter.
Raymund, or Redmond, O'Gallagher was a prominent
figure in the Irish Church during nearly the whole of
Elizabeth's reign, having been murdered only two years
before that sovereign's death. He had been a bishop before
she came to the throne, having been appointed Administrator
of the see of Killala in 1545, two years before the death of
Henry VIII., and consecrated bishop of that same see
three years later. Redmond 0' Gallagher was a native of
the diocese of Raphoe, County Donegal, and was of noble
family. The O'Gallaghers once held a conspicuous place in
that county, and were the owners of extensive property.
It was not, however, his nobility of birth that recom-
mended him to the Holy See, but his character for learning,
piety, and prudence. His appointment to administer a
diocese whilst he was scarcely twenty-four, and his conse-
cration at the unusually early age of twenty-seven, are
proofs of his extraordinary qualifications and of the con-
fidence reposed in him by the Holy Father. And that
confidence was fully justified by his whole long career after-
wards as administrator and bishop, covering in all a period of
nearly fifty-six years. The following is a translation of the
record of his appointment to the see of Killala : —
On the 7th November, 1545, the Holy See deputed as adminis-
trator, until he attain the twenty-seventh year of his age, in
spiritual matters, of the church of Killala, in Ireland, then
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 3
vacant by the death of Eichard Baired [Barrett], formerly Bishop
of Killala, who died outside the Eoman Curia, of happy
memory, D. Baymund Ogalcubait [0 'Gallagher], cleric of the
diocese of Eaphoe, aged twenty-four years or thereabouts, of
noble origin ; and then in his person makes provision for the
same church, and appoints him as its bishop ; tax, 11 florins.1
Later on we shall get a glimpse of his zeal in the cause
of discipline and religion whilst in that diocese.
After governing the diocese of Killala for twenty-four
years — three as administrator and twenty-one as bishop —
he was, in 1569, translated to the see of Derry. The
following is the record of his translation : —
On the 22nd of June, 1569, the Court of Eome absolved
D. Eedmond Ogalchur, Bishop of Killala, from the bond of
the church of Killala, and transferred him to the church of
Derry, vacant by the death of Eugene Idocharti (O'Doherty),
with the power of retaining the priory of Eachini, of the order of
Canons Eegular of St. Augustine, and all things annexed thereto,
in the diocese of Killala ; value, 24 marks sterling. 2
A few years after his translation to Derry he was
appointed vice-primate by the Holy See. The faculties
then granted him are thus recorded in the Secretaries Brevium
in Eome : —
To the Venerable Brother Eedmund, Bishop of Derry, for his
own diocese and for the entire province of Armagh, as long as the
Venerable Brother Eichard, Archbishop of Armagh, shall be absent
from his diocese and the province of Armagh (13th April, 1575).
In 1580, O'Gallagher is mentioned in a Vatican list as
a Bishop of Derry who had not taken the oath of alle-
giance. 0' Sullivan Bear, in his Catholic History,3 refers
to him as vice-primate. Relating certain events in tthe
Elizabethan wars, he says : —
There were present some ecclesiastics, chief among whom
was Eaymund O'Gallachur, Bishop of Luci and Vice-Primate of
Ireland, who absolved from the ban of excommunication those
who passed over from the royal to the Catholic army.4
1 Barberini and Vatican Archives.
2 Barberini Archives. See Brady's Irish Bishops, and Rev. J. M'Laughlin's
Bishops of Derry.
3 Chap, ix., B. iii.
4 The excommunication here referred to was that pronounced by Pius V.
against Elizabeth and her adherents. Note by Dr. M. Kelly, in his edition of
0' Sullivan.
4 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
An interesting reference to O'Gallagher occurs in a
curious work, translated from the Spanish by Robert
Crawford, M.A., and published during the past year by
Elliott Stock, of 62 Paternoster-row, London. It is entitled,
Captain Cuellar's Narrative of the Spanish Armada and his
Adventures in Ireland. Cuellar was a captain in the
Armada, and on the wreck of that ill-fated flotilla was cast
upon the Irish coast; with many others of his countrymen.
Afte". narrating the hardships and perils he had passed
through in Connaught and Ulster, he tells what happened
to him in O'Cahan's country — the present County Derry.
The English soldiers were everywhere searching for the
unfortunate shipwrecked Spaniards ; but they were making
a special search for Captain Cuellar, who, they had
discovered, was in the neighbourhood : —
Information about me [says he] had already been given to
them, and no one passed by whom they did not ask if he had
seen me . . . The boy was such a good lad that, upon learning
this, he returned to his hut, and informed me of what had
occurred ; so that I had to leave there very early in the morning,
and to go in search of a bishop who was seven leagues off in a
castle) where the English kept him in banishment and retire-
ment. This bishop was a very good Christian, and went about
in the garb of a savage x for concealment ; and I assure you, I
could not restrain tears when I approached him to kiss his hand.
He had twelve Spaniards with him, for the purpose of passing
them over to Scotland ; and he was much delighted at my
arrival, all the more so when the soldiers told him that I was a
captain. He treated me with every kindness that he could for
the six days I was with him, and gave orders that a boat should
come to us to take us over to Scotland, which is usually done in
two days. He gave us provisions for the voyage, and said Mass
for us in the castle, and spoke with me about some things
concerning the loss of the kingdom, and how his Majesty had
assisted them, and that he should come to Spain as soon as
possible after my arrival in Scotland, where be advised me to
live with much patience, as in general they were all Lutherans,
and very few Catholics. The bishop was called Don Esimundo
Termi (?) [Bishop of Times], an honourable and just man. God
keep him in His hands, and preserve him from his enemies.
The translator fails to identify this bishop, and calls him
rm for a native of the country.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 5
by the unmeaning title of 'Bishop of Times.' The word
Termi is evidently a mistake for Derrie, as Derry was then
usually spelled ; and it is quite certain that the bishop was
Eaymund O'Gallagher, the then bishop of the diocese, who
lived in disguise at this period in O'Cahan's country, and
who, tradition says, used to tend sheep by day on the
mountains, and visit by night the sick and dying of his
flock. It may be interesting to readers of the I. E. RECOBD
to know that Captain Cuellar, with a number of other
Spaniards, was soon afterwards, by the kindness of Sir James
M'Donnell, sent in a boat from Dunluce to Scotland.1
This same year, 1588, we have a letter from O'Gallagher
to Cornelius O'Devany, Bishop of Down and Connor, and
dated from Tamlaghtard, better known as Magilligan.
This letter was found on O'Devany's person shortly after-
wards, and in consequence he was imprisoned in Dublin,
and kept in confinement for two years. Though liberated
for a time, he was taken prisoner again, and ultimately put
to death in the metropolis, in 1612. The letter was as
follows : —
We, Eedmond, by the grace of God and favour of the
Apostolic See, Bishop of Derry and Vice-Primate of All Ireland,
to the Most Reverend, our dear brother, Cornelius, Bishop of
Down and Connor. Seeing that we cannot, without incurring
imminent peril of life, make visitation of your territory, we.
therefore, by the authority of Letters Apostolic and by the
authority of the primatial dignity, by the purport of these pre-
sents, do appoint you in our stead for a full year from the date
hereof, and for the same period we give and grant you power to
absolve from episcopal and also from papal cases each and every-
one who has recourse to you, obligations of conscience being
safeguarded, and salutary penance in proportion to the fault
being enjoined.
Given in the Parochial Church of Tamlaghtard, the 1st day
of July, 1588.
E., Bishop of Derry and Vice-Primate.
Another letter of his, written some years after this, and
addressed to Clement VIII. , may be introduced in this
1 Ulster Journal of Archceology, vol. i., No. 3, n. 3, 1895.
6 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
place. It refers to the sufferings for the faith in Ireland,
and the noble stand then being made against English power.
It runs thus : —
1 am confident your Holiness knows that our leading nobles — •
doubtless by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost — have made a
courageous stand against the malicious oppression inflicted on
them by the English, and have done so with a spirit and daring
more than human. By their manful resistance in the battle-field
they have baffled and foiled the English devices, their rancour
and satanic rage. Yet every day brings changes more numerous
than one could tell ; and so, to give our nobles greater courage,
to strengthen them, and to make them steadfast in their glorious
undertaking by the hope of succour, a person has come here, a
little ago, from Spain for the purpose of making a report that
will be relied on to his Catholic Majesty of the actual state of
affairs. He is the bearer of this letter. I recommend your
Holiness to have unhesitating confidence in his testimony. I
ask you to do so, and to cast a kindly look on Ireland, always
faithful to you — Ireland which now presents such a dismal
appearance, so wretched and so mournful, suffering for so long
a time, and suffering so many disasters at the hands of the
heretics. The present opportunity is specially favourable. I am
convinced it is a gift of God. I ask your Holiness to seize it at
once, remembering that opportunity is usually bald on the back
of the head. Make kindly provision as speedily as in your power
for those who are your own dependents — yes, and the most faithful
of all your dependents since Christianity came into the world.
Do not disappoint myself and the bearer of my letter in the
hopes we have formed and set our hearts on. I leave to him to
tell your Holiness many other matters that need to be mentioned.
And, taking into account what I know of his family, his dili-
gence, his uprightness, his sincere and earnest zeal for faith and
country, I beseech your Holiness to bestow some favour on him,
to have no hesitation in granting him the dignity of N., thereby
approving with your own authority the action I am taking in
the present emergency.1
Protected by the still powerful sept of O'Cahan, it
would seem that O'Gallagher was all this time able to exer-
cise his ministry with a certain amount of security. In a
State Paper, dated 28th July, 1592, the following account of
him is given : —
First in Ulster is one Eedmundus O'Gallagher, Buishopp of
Dayrie, alias Daren, Legate of the Pope and custos Armaghen,
1 For the original Latin letters see Meehan's Flight of the Earh.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 7
being one of the three Irish buishoppes that were in the Council
of Trent. This buishopp used all manner of spiritual jurisdic-
cion throughout all Ulster, consecrating churches, ordeyning
priests, confirming children, and giving all manner of dispensa-
cionS; rydeing with pomp and ceremony from place to place, as
yt was accustomed in Queen Marye's days. And for all the rest
of the clergy there, they use all manner of service there nowe as
in that tyme, and not only that, but they have changed the tyme
according (to) the Pope's new invencion. The said Buishopp
O'Gallagher hath bin with diverse governors of that land upon
protecion, and yet he is suffered to enjoy the bishoprick, and
all the aforesaid aucthoryties, these xxvi years past and more,
whereby it is to be understood that he is not there as a man
without aucthority or secretly kept. l
Though this statement is inaccurate in some of its
details, and is considerably exaggerated, still it is important
as showing the zeal and influence of O'Gallagher in Ulster
at this period. It is not correct to say that he was one
of the Irish bishops who attended the Council of Trent.
The three who did attend, were Donald M'Congail, Bishop
of Raphoc ; Thomas O'Herlichy, Bishop of Boss ; and
Eugene O'Hart, Bishop of Achonry. Nor is it true to say,
that he was legate of the Pope. He had merely received
from him extraordinary jurisdiction to be exercised in the
absence of the Primate, and hence in most documents of
the time he is styled Vice-Primate. It is by no means
likely that he was in the habit of ' rydeing with pomp
and company from place to place,' for the English soldiers
had gained a footing in O'Cahan's country at this time, and
one of their great objects was to seize the Bishop who
was regarded as their most powerful opponent. Though
exercising his ministry, he did so disguised as a peasant,
and under the protection of the chieftains who were not as
yet entirely shorn of their power. Though residing, as a
general rule, in O'Cahan's territory, we find that occasionally
he dwelt in the city, and also at Fahan, on the shores 01
Lough Swilly. In a MS. paper in the State Paper Office,
dated 12th April, 1601, and endorsed : ' The Description of
Lough Foyle, and the country adjacent,' we find the
1 See Kilkenny Arch, Jour, for 1856-7.
8 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
following entries : — ' Three miles above Culmore stands the
Derrie, where the bishop dwells, who is one of the sept of
the Gallocars.' And again : ' Over against Elloghe, in
O'Dovgherdie's country, is a castle and a church called the
Fanne, but broken down synce our aryvall, — Here dwells
the Bishop O'Galchar.'1
Except occasional references to him, these are all the
facts that have hitherto been recorded regarding him, till
we come to the record of his death. That sad occurrence
is mentioned by several authorities, but all are not agreed
as to the year in which it took place. Dr. Burke, in a note
to the eighteenth chapter of his Hibernia Dominicana, after
recounting the names of many who had suffered for the
faith, says : —
To these are to be added, deceased shortly after Elizabeth,
Eedmund Galcharius, vernacularly, O'Gallagher, bishop of
Derry, who about his seventieth year being taken prisoner
by heretical soldiers of the garrison who were scouring the
country, and being pierced by them with many wounds, died
in the year 1604.
O'Keilly, in his Sufferers for the Catholic Faith in Ireland,
adopts, apparently without any inquiry, the chronology of
De Burgho. O' Sullivan Bear gives the same date in
enumerating various victims that were put to death for the
faith under James, the year after his coming to the throne.
' Baymund O'Gallagher, Bishop of Derry or Luci, was slain
by the English with two-edged swords, and beheaded about
his eightieth year.'2 Others give the date as 1602 ; but
even this is not correct except in so far as the old style
corresponds with the new. The date given by the Annals
of the Four Masters, and by Donatus Mooney in his
MS. History of the Franciscans, compiled in 1617, is the
correct one. The annalists, under date 1601, say in their
usual terse style : ' Eedmund O'Gallagher, Bishop of Derry,
was killed by the English in Oireacht-Ui-Chathain, on the
1 See U!st. Jour, of Arch., vol. v. Though dated 1601, this paper was
written at least a year before that.
8 B. ii., chap, iv., Cath. Hist.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 9
15th day of March;' and Mooney writes : 'Kedmund Galchur,
martyr, died in 1601, the 8th of March, being an old man,
and as was considered the oldest, by ordination, of all the
bishops of Europe.'1
It is strange that none of all these writers mention the
place where he was murdered, except the Four Masters, and
even they make only a vague reference to it ; yet on the
strength of that reference some modern writers fix the place
as midway between Limavady and Dungiven. Notwith-
standing repeated inquiries, the present writer could never
discover any reliable authority for this statement. He
believes, however, that he can now fix the exact spot of the
murder, and the burial of the martyred bishop, as well as
give many details of his life not hitherto published. In the
library of Trinity College, Dublin, there is an unpublished
manuscript of Dr. Lynch, the author of Cambrensis Eversus,
in which he gives a tolerably good summary of the life of
O'Gallagher, and furnishes, moreover, the details of his
death, and where it occurred, with a minuteness which
enables an investigator to fix almost to a certainty on
the very spot where it took place.2 Though some of the
facts already given will of necessity be repeated in this
extract from Lynch, yet even at the risk of repetition it
seems better to give the text in its entirety. He writes
as follows : —
We see from the Eecords at Borne that Eedmond O'Gallagher,
one of the clergy of the diocese of Eaphoe, the son of Gilduff,
was on the 6th Nov., 1545, when he was only twenty-four years
of age, or rather somewhat less, created bishop of Killala, then
vacant by the death of Bichard Barret. The Kecords speak
of Bedmond as of noble family. It may well be that, as Pliny
says about Macrinus, in merit he could compete with those
more advanced in years, in whose dignity he was a partner.
At any rate he was not the only person we read of, who for
unusual merit was elevated before the age of thirty to the
episcopal rank, whose progress in virtue far outstripped their
1 See note to O'Sullivan Bear's Cuth. Hist.
2 The MS. is numbered 1445, is written in Latin, bound in two largo
volumes, and a note prefixed to it states that it was transcribed in 1863, by
Mr. John Rathbone, from the original in the Bodleian Library. Its title is : —
Historic* Eccletiastica Hibernite or De Frcesnlibus Hibirnice.
10 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
progress in years. The Pope wrote to him in the year 1553.
Beyond all that, it appears to me to be a powerful testimony to
his worth, that during a period when the most of the bishops
of Ireland, not only those that were appointed by the king, but
those who were appointed by the Pope, were infected and
corrupted by the guilt of the revolt of the State against the
Church, Kedmond, who had been made bishop by the Pope,
when Henry VIII. was still reigning, faithfully fulfilled his
duties as bishop of Killala during the reigns of Edward and
Mary, and until far on in the reign of Elizabeth. The legislation
of Edward against the faith never obtained power or validity in
Ireland, or, at any rate, was not enforced in the distant parts of
the country. It was told to me, that Eedmond, strange to say,
had detached from the see lands a farm, and conveyed it to
his sister's husband. The time of this transaction is not
mentioned, and I am of opinion that it took place (that is if
ever it took place) during the reign of Edward. Kedmond,
seeing that Edward was making over the church lands to lay
persons, preferred to have the farm in the hands of his sister
than of a stranger, to whom certainly the king would give all the
lands of the see of Killala that he could get hold of by open war
or private violence. Accordingly Eedmond is in nowise touched
by the excommunication issued by Victor II., in the Council
of Florence against those who alienate church lands ; neither
does he incur the rebuke of Peter Damian, that ' the reverence
for the sanctuary is weakened when by alienation of this kind
its ministers are in miserable want, when the poor, the widow,
the orphan, and the pilgrim cry out : ' We are being cut off by the
sword of hunger from the face of the earth ; ' adding that a bishop
of Bologna lost the power of his speech for having alienated
ecclesiastical property. Eedmond's great zeal for the repression
of heresy, and for the spread of the Catholic faith, was shown
by his holding, in 1566, in conjunction with Andrew O'Crean,
bishop of Elphin, and Eugene O'Hart, bishop of Achonry, a large
assemblage of the clergy in the form of a provincial Council
(at which, it appears, he presided as senior bishop), and they
there passed a decree, that their observance in their full integrity
of the decrees of the Council of Trent was of universal obligation.
Later on provincial Councils were held to enforce the observance
of those decrees on the subjects of these three dioceses.
On the plea that there was a suspicion of undue familiarity
between Eedmond and the wife of a certain man of the nobility,
he was imprisoned, his goods confiscated, and himself exiled
from his diocese by Sir John Burke, son of Oliver, who had
obtained the dignity of the Mac William, and the presidency of
lower Connaught, attached to that dignity, and who died in
1580 ; and by Sir Edmund Burke. So Sanders is correct enough
in saying, that he was either imprisoned or exiled, not for any
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 11
crime, but that what he suffered, whether exile or imprisonment,
was because he was a Catholic and a bishop ; suggesting that
what he wrote he had heard, and had no other foundation for
believing it beyond the common proverb : ' There is usually truth
in a rumour.' The misfortunes that befel the descendants of
those who persecuted Bedmond, seem to clear him of that
wicked and malicious suspicion, especially when we take into
consideration, that had a stain of so gross a nature attached to
him, he never would have been translated to the see of Derry,
or dignified with the title of Vice-Primate. I do not know the
year in which he was translated, but he was bishop of Derry,
when Gregory XIII., as we know, wrote to him, 6th June, 1575,
the fourth year of his pontificate. In that letter the Pope gives
instructions about promoting to holy orders, and to benefices
some persons who had been born out of lawful wedlock.
In Ulster, at any rate, the public exercise of the Catholic
religion was at that time unmolested and prosperous. The
princes and nobles of Ulster continued by force of arms to
exclude heresy from their dominions. Now, Eedmond, it seems,
was the tower of strength of the Ulstermen and their bond of
union, and to him was due the long continuance of their indepen-
dence. At any rate, the heretics believed him to be the person
who kept alive the war and kept up the spirit of the forces, for
they singled him out as the one person for whose destruction all
their efforts were to be combined.
Many a work he engaged in, in rooting up the thorns and
brambles of heresy, and in planting the true vine of the Catholic
faith ; nor was his zeal confined to Ulster, for by a letter of
8th August, 1596, from Belhena, by virtue of his power as Vice-
Primate, he appointed Bernard Macaghowan Vicar-General of
Tuam and Mayo, and John O'Dongal Guardian of Mayo.
The defeat of the Ulster forces left him unprotected — a
mark for the enemy's vengeance. The following year, abandoned
by Neil Garve O'Donnell, who (as Coppinger states) then took
part with the heretics, Henry Docwra, with the Lough Foyle
garrison, got on his track, and at last seized him in Cumalia, an
out-of-the-way hamlet about a mile from Derry, on the way
which leads to Strabane, where there was a parochial church.
A short time before the bishop had learned the arrangements the
enemy had made for getting hold of him, and had in consequence
hid himself in a bog, winter though it was ; but the bitter cold and
his enfeebled old age compelled him to slip into a house at the
dead of night. On the approach of the enemy all in the house
took to flight, except himself. Unable to fly, he hid himself among
some sheaves of corn. The enemy having got up to the house,
and having laid hold on a woman and boy, slaughtered them
both, and went away. The people of the place then went into
the house, and asked was there anyone there still alive. The
12 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
bishop, from his hiding-place, answered that he was still alive.
One of the army scullions of the enemy, who was lurking close
by, overhearing the voice, hurries off to his party with his utmost
speed, urges them to come back, which they do without delay,
fall upon the bishop, thus taken by surprise, mangle him with
many a wound, and leave him lifeless. That was in 1602.
It is believed that God inflicted punishments on the authors
of this foul murder ; that is, Neil and Docwra ; for Docwra was
set aside, and Henry Folliat was made Governor of Ballyshannon
in his place — an event which was miraculous, even in the eyes
of the English, that the very man who regained Ballyshannon
should be dismissed from being governor. Neil was so indignant
that, after all his loyalty to the English, Eory O'Donnell should
be set over him, that, rushing headlong to his own destruction,
he took to himself the title of O'Donnell, and thereupon
obtained a prolonged abode in the Tower of London, wherein he
kept his abode till his death.
The bishop was buried in the graveyard of the parochial
church I mentioned, at the side where the eastern window stood,
the interior of the church having been desecrated.
From this passage we learn of the zeal of O'Gallagher
in introducing the Tridentine regulations, and in enforcing
the rules of morality and religion, a zeal which, no doubt,
provoked the anger of the irreligious, and excited their
malice against the saintly bishop. We know the lawless
nature of some of the Irish chieftains, and the lax notions of
virtue that prevailed among not a few ; and woe to the cleric
that dared to upbraid them for their vices. O'Gallagher, as
Bishop of Killala, probably found it his duty to reprove
some of those chiefs for their loose lives, or for their
defection from the faith, and in return they determined to
check his virtuous zeal, as the Arians of the fourth century
did with the great St. Athanasius. They resorted to the
same species of calumny as did the Arians, and added
violence to their defamation ; but God vindicated his
innocence as He did that of Athanasius, and his fellow-
bishops, as well as the Supreme Head of the Church,
manifested their faith in his virtue by his promotion to
the see of Derry. To this the Sovereign Pontiff soon
afterwards added the dignity of Vice-Primate.
His labours in the cause of faith and fatherland, 'while
Bishop of Derry, made him a tower of strength to the
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 13
Catholics of the north, and a terror to his enemies. No
wonder, then, that the English incessantly sought his life.
The O'Cahans and other chieftains of the district protected
him as long as they had the power, but their territory had
become the prey of the invader, and the life of the aged
bishop was no longer secure in the mountains of Dungiven
or Magilligan. His only safety was in flight. He was pro-
bably sojourning at his house in the city of Derry — for as we
saw above he sometimes resided in the city, and sometimes
at Fahan, as well as in the O'Cahan country — when he
discovered the machinations of Docwra against his life. If
he could escape to his native Tyrconnell he might elude the
bloodhounds of Docwra, and obtain protection among his
own kith and kin. This would seem to have been his object
in taking the route he did when flying from the city. Lynch's
minute description at this point enables us to follow the
aged fugitive step by step to the spot where he met his
doom. He went from the city, says Lynch, by the road
that leads to Strabane. The only road then leading from
Derry to Strabane was that on the western side of the
Foyle, which passes through the towns of Carrigans
and St. Johnston, and thence to Lifford No bridge then
spanned the river at Derry, and consequently there was no
communication between the city and the eastern side of the
Foyle, except by means of a ferry. To attempt to cross
this ferry with the soldiers of the garrison on the look out
for him, and with Protestants manning the ferry-boats,
would have been sheer madness on the part of the
bishop. Besides, the route was the very opposite to that
he should have taken, if, as we suppose, he intended going
to Tyrconnell.
Setting out by night, he reached a hamlet which, Lynch
says, was about a mile from Derry, and where there was a
parochial church. Here he at first concealed himself in a
bog, but the intense cold induced him to slip into a house
about midnight to get himself warmed. Now the only
parochial church in that direction was the church of Killea,
which was one of five rural churches which depended on and
were attached to the great church in Derry. Killea is three
14 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
miles from the city ; but we could not expect Lynch, a
stranger to the locality, to know the exact distance. His
meaning, clearly, is, that the place was a short distance
from Derry. Evidently the place was well known to
O'Gallagher, as he betook himself there for safety, and he
felt he could trust himself in the cottages of the poor
Catholics there. Killea corresponds exactly with Lynch's
description. There was the bog in which he concealed
himself at first. The bog is now exhausted, but in the
present writer's early days it was still extensive, and
supplied the entire neighbourhood with fuel. The
church stood on a gentle slope above this bog, and its
ruins were standing until a few years ago, when they were
taken down, and the materials used in building a new wall
around the graveyard. The latter is still used for inter-
ments. The church gives its name to the adjoining parish
of Killea, which in the Protestant division is still a distinct
parish, but in the Catholic division is amalgamated with a
number of other small parishes to form what is called
the parish of Taughboyne and All Saints. The parish of
Killea is in the diocese of Raphoe, but the townland and
church of Killea are in the diocese of Derry. The north-
west Liberties, which extend three miles in every direction
from the city, on the western side of the Foyle, were cut off
from Donegal by Docwra, and added to the county of Derry.
This explains the reason of the parish being at present in
a different county from the church which gave it its name;
and this too may explain the expression of the Four Masters,
that O'Gallagher was killed in O'Cahan's territory, since the
Liberties were now part of the county Derry. More likely,
however, they took it for granted, that it was in county
Derry he had been killed, since it was there he had
generally dwelt during the time of his episcopate. The
hamlet of which Lynch speaks, like most of our old
Irish villages, has disappeared, though a number of
houses are still scattered around the vicinity of the old
church.
In Lewis's Topographical Dictionary mention is made
of two cairns in the townland of Killea, one of which, the
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 15
writer says, is in the bed of a rivulet called the 4 Priest's
Burn,' from a tradition, that a priest was killed on the spot.
This, too, helps to indicate the place where O'Gallagher was
slain ; for from the testimony of a native of the place, now
in his ninety-third year, the present writer has learned,
that there was a cairn formerly at Killea Burn a few
hundred yards below the church, at the edge of the bog,
where he believes the hamlet stood which Lynch describes,
and where the aged bishop was done to death by the brutal
soldiers of Elizabeth.
If for nothing else this MS. of Dr. Lynch is of the
utmost value as furnishing data for fixing on the place of
O'Gallagher' s martyrdom and burial, and for giving so many
details of his life. The topography is so accurately described
that no doubt whatever remains on the mind of the writer
as to the spot where the saintly bishop fell and was interred.
That he fell by Killea Burn, and was interred in Killea
graveyard by the ruins of the old church, at the side where
the eastern altar stood, seems to be beyond a doubt if we
are to accept the history given by Lynch ; and there is no
reason for calling its accuracy into question. At the time
of his martyrdom he was in his eightieth year, having been
twenty-four at the time of his appointment to Killala, and
having exercised jurisdiction for fifty-six years afterwards.
His was an eventful and fruitful episcopate. Ever
battling for the Church, rebuking when necessary the vices
of the great, even, as we have seen, at the risk of defamation
and loss of liberty ; supporting the weak, strengthening the
wavering, bringing hope and consolation to the sick and
dying, urging the chieftains to fight strenuously against the
inroads of heresy, he was truly another St. Paul to the perse-
cuted flock over whom he ruled, and a tower of strength to the
Catholics of Ulster. His heartless and brutal murder was
but one in the long, dark catalogue of crimes which charac-
terized the reign of Elizabeth, but one sufficient in itself to
mark an epoch. In the same month, two years afterwards,
she followed him to her final account ; but how widely
different the death of the bishop and the death of the
queen ! The one, after a long and faithful stewardship in
10 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the vineyard of the Lord, after preaching Christ's Gospel,
and putting into practice its precepts, gives up his life for
the Church and the faith which he had so long and so
vigorously defended ; the other, after a regime stained by
every crime, after overthrowing the religion of her ances-
tors, murdering the innocent Queen of Scots, slaying the
ministers of God's Church, assuming to herself the
prerogatives of Christ's Vicar on earth, ' drunk with the
blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus,' sinks at last despairing into the arms of death,
not daring to invoke the name of that God against whom
she had warred during life, nor permitting a prayer to
be breathed by her bedside as she went before the
judgment seat to receive her final sentence.1
The murder of Eedmond O'Gallagher was but the
prelude to the martyrdom of a host of priests, both secular
and regular, who were slain in Derry during the reign of
James I. and his successors, till the catalogue was closed by
the death of the Kev. Clement O'Colgan, O.P.P., who,
after an imprisonment of two years, died for the faith in
Derry jail, as late as the year 1704. If sword and flame,
confiscation of property, outlawry of priests and bishops,
destruction of churches and monasteries, could have
destroyed Catholicity, it might well have been extin-
guished in the city of Columbkille and in the diocese of
St. Eugene ; but it still survived with that indestructible
life which Christ promised to His Church on earth. The
storm of persecution became exhausted by its own fury ;
fanaticism grew weary of its tyranny, and bigotry learned
to be ashamed of its atrocities. Happier days began to
dawn, and with them came the revival of religion and the
reconstruction of its sacred edifices. Just like some valu-
able palimpsest, from whose page the skill of the modern
chemist has effaced the writing of the later scribe, restoring
thereby to the world the priceless characters first written on
the parchment, so the purifying hand of time has obliterated
1 For a description of the last days of this queen, see Dr. Lee's Church
- Elizabeth.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 17
from the Church of Derry the handwriting of evil men, and
has restored to the light of day the beauty and glowing
fervour of its ancient faith.
Redmond O'Gallagher has long since gone to his ever-
lasting crown ; his heartless and cowardly murderers have
passed to their account ; but the faith which they endea-
voured to destroy, and for which he fought, the Church
which they blindly hoped to crush, and for which he shed
his blood, still live on, purified and strengthened by the
ordeal through which they have passed. Ezechiel's vision
has again been fulfilled ; for the Spirit of the Lord has
breathed once more over the dry bones of the plain, and a
new race has arisen to fill up for Mother Church in Derry
the place of her martyred dead.
K. O'DOHEBTY.
VOL. III.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY
T)EFOBE entering upon the subject of this essay, I think
J3 it will make my task lighter, if I begin by stating
exactly what I am going to do. I am going to compare the
Church of England as it existed before the sixteenth
century with the Church of England as it exists to-day.
I call the first the ' Pre-Eeformation Church,' and the
second the ' Post-Keformation Church.' But what kind of
comparison am I going to institute ? Am I going to prove
that the one is true, and the other false? No. Am I going
to prove that the one is a divine, and the other a human
institution ? No, nothing of the kind. My purpose is far
more simple. I am going to prove merely that the one
Church is not the other.
The issue is, therefore, very simple. The sole question
before us is this : Is the ' Pre-Beformation Church ' the
same Church as the ' Post-Beformation Church,' or is it a
different one ? Is the faith professed by the English
sovereigns and people in the twelfth, thirteenth, and four-
teenth centuries the same as that professed by the
sovereigns and people in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and
nineteenth centuries ? Have the same doctrines and eccle-
siastical government continued century after century, or
has there been a rupture, a severance, a breaking away, a
dislocation ? In a word, has there been a distinct interrup-
tion, or has there been an unbroken continuity? We, as
Catholics, answer emphatically that there has been a most
decided interruption ; while, on the other hand, certain of
our Anglican friends declare with equal emphasis that there
has not.
Take note that we are concerned with doctrine, faith,
religious observance, and ecclesiastical government ; not
with mere external possessions. "When pagan Borne
was converted to Christianity the Christians, in many
instances, transformed the pagan temples into places of
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 19
Catholic worship. But because they occupied the same
territory, lived in the same towns, and retained the same
buildings, we cannot upon that ground argue that there
was any real ' continuity,' in doctrine or religious belief,
between paganism and Christianity. So, for a like reason,
when the Reformers took possession of the Catholic
cathedrals and churches, and of the abbeys and the abbey
lands, and clothed themselves with the spoils of the monas-
teries, we can no more argue that they were on that account
of the same creed as the monks and priests whom they
turned adrift, transported, or hanged, than we can argue
that the wolf is of the same nature as the sheep, on the
ground that, having slain the sheep, he now wears its
fleece. He is still as much a wolf as ever.
We are perfectly well aware that the grand old English
cathedrals, such as those of Bath and Wells, of Canterbury
and Durham, of Gloucester and Hereford, of York and
Ely, and Worcester, Lincoln, Salisbury, Winchester, and
Norwich, and many more (though designed by Catholic
artists, built by Catholic hands, and paid for by Catholic
gold) have been appropriated by that Protestant Reformed
religion, established by law, which King William and Queen
Mary, and presumably all English sovereigns since, in their
coronation oaths, have solemnly sworn to defend.1
We are well aware that the Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge, together with the moneys and emoluments,
and the sums left as bequests for Masses, and many other
things of a material and pecuniary value, which once
belonged to the ' Pre-Reformation Church,' were taken
away, and have now become the property of the ' Post-
Reformation Church.' But the religion and faith of the
' Pre-Reformation Church ' — that is to say, that which
constitutes its very essence, its innermost spirit and life —
have not descended to the English as a nation. The wolf
i CORONATION OATH, 1689-1702.
To King William and Queen Mary.
Archbishop. — ' Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws
of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reformed
Religion, established by law ? '
' We -will,' &c.— (The Book of Riyhts. By Edgar Taylor, p. 215.)
20 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
has got the fleece. True ! But there still remains a mighty
and essential difference between the wolf and the sheep.
But how does it happen that all Protestants, as well as
Catholics, are not agreed upon this point ? Well, let us
see.
People read history very differently, according to the
manner in which the facts may affect their own particular
interests ; and we cannot but feel that, whether consciously
or unconsciously, the upholders of the theory, which we
are examining here to-day, are not impartial, but so strongly
biassed in its favour as to think they see proofs even where
none exist. Of such men may be said, with the alteration
of a single word, what Shakspeare says of the jealous :
' Trifles light as air are to the biassed (jealous) confirmation
strong as proofs of Holy Writ.' 1
But is there a strong motive to maintain the continuity
theory at any cost ? Well, I think we shall find there is.
Indeed, Anglicans must cling to this theory, because it is
essential to their position — I might almost say to their
very existence. It may be an improbable theory, it may
be an impossible theory, it may be a theory which
history, loud and trumpet toned, denies and contradicts ;
a theory derided and scouted by the overwhelming
body of Christians throughout the world ; but it is essential
to the position of the little local Church that defends it.
Therefore, in mere self-defence, and in virtue of the
natural instinct of self-preservation, these good people
close their ears to every argument, and remain blind
to the most unassailable evidence. They have ears,
but hear not ; eyes, and see not, because they really cannot
afford either to see or to hear. To do so would be to admit
themselves in the wrong. To give up continuity is equiva-
lent to affirm that their Church is less than four hundred
years old ; it is implicitly to admit that it is not the Church
of Christ, which was established in this land more than a
thousand years earlier ; and, if not the Church of Christ,
then, of course, not a true Church at all. Further, it is to
1 Othel., iii 3.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 21
admit that they have no real right to the doweries and
emoluments and the ecclesiastical legacies and Church
lands. No, no more than a supposed heir to a property has
a right to that property when it is discovered that he is,
after all, no true son, but only a bastard. The thought of
these and many other consequences puts religiously-minded
men in a position in which we can no more wonder at their
clinging to any vestige of an argument, and to any shred or
shadow of a proof, than we can wonder at a drowning man
clasping and snatching at any floating straw or drifting
weed that comes within his reach.
But, even in spite of all this, so clear and so irresistible
is the evidence against the continuity theory, that the more
clear-headed, learned, honest, and impartial of Anglicans
themselves have felt obliged to admit that there has been
really no true and real 'continuity' in the Church of
England at all. They admit, in a word — and the admission
being so contrary to their own interests is of quite excep-
tional value — that the Church of England, as now existing,
is radically different from the Church of England of four
hundred years ago — that, in a word, the present Church of
England started into existence only as late as the sixteenth
century, and was the creation of Henry VIII. and
Elizabeth.
Now, it is not our purpose to try and force our own
belief, however certain, down anybody's throat ; nor need
we accuse any individual of dishonesty because evidence
which convinces others does not convince him. The law
courts afford us innumerable cases of evidence completely
satisfying eleven jurymen, and yet altogether failing to
convince the twelfth. So it may be in the case of contin-
uity. Now, there are at present in my mind theological
reasons which, altogether independently of historical facts,
absolutely satisfy me that the English Church of to-day is
totally distinct from the English Church of St. Thomas of
Canterbury and of Archbishop Chicheley; but I am not
going to produce any theological arguments now. As there
is not time for everything, I will confine myself to the
evidences of history, and I will call up various weighty
22 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
witnesses. Nay more; in order to give my Anglican friends
every advantage, I will pack my witness-box, and select my
witnesses, not from among Catholics, who might be thought
biassed against the continuity theory, but from among
non-Catholics, and non-Catholics alone.
The first I will summon is Mr. E. A. Freeman, Eegius
Professor of Modern History, Oxford, whom Canon Bright
calls ' a great master of English history.' He witnesses as
follows : — l
England was the special conquest of the Roman Church,
the first land which looked up with reverence to the Eoman
Pontiff, while it owed not even a nominal allegiance to the
Roman Caesar. . . . The English folk were first called to cast
aside the faith of Woden, and to embrace the faith of Christ by
men who came on that errand from Rome herself, at the bidding
of the acknowledged father of Western Christendom.
I will now call upon the Rev. F. C. Warren, a recognised
Anglican authority on the liturgy of the ancient British
Church. He, like Freeman, emphatically testifies to the
essentially Eoman character and condition of the early
English Church : —
Roman [he says] in origin, owing her existence to the fore-
sight of one of the greatest Popes, and fostered at first by
Roman missionaries and bishops, the Church of England had
been constantly and loyally Roman in doctrine and practice. Her
liturgical books, as well as her vestments, and church ornaments
came direct from Rome, being sent from Gregory to Augustine.
Her archbishops, from the very first, applied for and wore the
pall.2
This is pretty strong evidence, as coming from an
Anglican clergyman. But let us now dismiss him and
call our next witness.
What has the Protestant historian, Child, to say on the
subject ? Turning to his well-known work, we come across
the following : —
When Henry died, a complete revolution had been effected in
the history of the Church. Instead of the Church in England, it
1 Eniycl. Brit., art. 'England,' pp. 277-278.
2 Intro, to Leofric's Missal, p. 24. Rev. F. C. Warren.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 23
had become in good truth, the Church of England ; instead,
that is, of an integral part of that great western province of
Christendom, to which it owed its first conversion, and with
which it had been one ever since, for nearly a thousand years, it
had become for the first time in its history, a separate Christian
community, of which little could be affirmed, but that, for the
time being at any rate, it agreed with no other; that it retained
an anomalous and decapitated form of Catholicism ; and that, in
practice, if not in theory too, it owed its doctrine as well as
whatever of discipline it retained to its lay supreme head.1
So much for Mr. Child. We will now ask his Lordship
the Eight Eev. Protestant Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Short,
to state his honest conviction upon this interesting point : —
The Englishman [writes Bishop Short] who derives his blood
from Saxon veins will be ungrateful if he be not ready to confess
the debt which Christian Europe owes to Borne ; and to confess
that whenever she shall cast off these innovations of men, which
now cause a separation between us, we shall gladly pay her
such honours as are due to the country which was instrumental
in bringing us within the pale of the Universal Church of
Jesus Christ.
And further on Dr. Short admits that the existence of
the Church of England, as a distinct body, and her final
separation from Home, may be dated from the period of the
(Henry's) divorce.
This is an unequivocal testimony. If the English
Church separated from Eome in Henry's time, then she
must have been united with Eome before Henry's time.
The historian, Gardiner, in his Student's History of England?
also states, that ' The English Church was in all outward
matters regulated in conformity with that of Eome.'
Herzog affords us yet another testimony. In his
Encyclopcedia of Theology, article ' Church of England,'
though he impartially state, that many Anglicans advance a
claim to antiquity for their Church, he expresses his own
opinion : ' Its history begins with the reign of Henry VIIL,
when breaking with the Pope, he was declared the head of
the Church in his dominions.'3
1 Church and State under the Tudors, pp. 264-5.
2 Page 50.
3 History of the Church of England to the Revolution, 1668, p. 8.
24 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
We now call upon another witness, the learned author
of a work entitled Celtic Scotland.1
Now Mr. Skene testifies to the identity of doctrine and
practice in the Koman and ancient British Churches in
these words : —
Suffice it to say that during the Eoman occupation the
Christian Church in Britain was a part of the Church of the
Empire. It was immediately connected with that of Gaul, but
it acknowledged Eome as its head, from whom its mission
was considered to be derived, and it presented no features
of difference from the Konaish Church in the other western
provinces. We find it in close connection with the Gallican
Church, and regarding the Patriarch of Eome as the head of the
Western Church, and the source of ecclesiastical authority and
mission, and with the exception of the temporary prevalence of
the Pelagian heresy in Britain, we can discover no trace of any
divergence between them in doctrine or practice.
Some of our antagonists would have us make a dis-
tinction between Protestantism and Anglicanism, but as
the Archbishop of Melbourne truly observes : ' This distinc-
tion has no foundation in the history of the Reformation.'
The following statement of historical facts, written, not by
Catholic, but by the Protestant historian Child, will satisfy
every impartial reader. He says : —
It is difficult to study the actual facts of the sixteenth
century history, putting apart preconceived ecclesiastical
theories, without arriving at the conclusion that the English
National Church was as completely the creation of Henry VIII.,
Edward's Council, and Elizabeth, as Saxon Protestantism
was of Luther, Swiss of Calvin, or of Zwingle. 2
The history of the Church in England was continuous from
the mission of Augustine, or, if we prefer it, from the Synod of
Whitby, to the time when Henry VIII., upon a disagreement
with the Pope about his divorce, cast off his allegiance to the
Papacy. From that time to the present, with the short interval
between the reconciliation under Mary and Elizabeth's first
Parliament, it has been severed and excommunicated by the
great body of the Catholic Church ; and as the latter was before
precisely that which it has continued since, it is clear that the
former must have been something not the same. And it is not the
mere retention of a few names and titles, used in a kind of ' second
. ii., pp. 2,7. " Church and State, &c., pp. 272-4
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 25
intention,' and a few more or less amputated rites, which will
ever make persons, intelligently instructed, believe that an
establishment which obviously is a mere creature of a single
state, is the legitimate and adequate representative of that
imposing Western Church, which is older than any existing
state in Europe, and grander than anything the world has ever
seen, and which has been picturesquely described by an old
writer as ' the ghost of the old Boman Empire,' sitting robed
and crowned upon the grave thereof.1
A fair consideration of the actual facts of the Tudor history
serves to show that, a theory like that which prevails so widely
at present, which represents the English Church in any other
light than that of one (though it may, perhaps, be admitted, the
greatest and most dignified) of the Protestant Churches which
arose in the sixteenth century, is a novelty which took its very
earliest rise some half century or more after the separation from
Eome, as a direct consequence of Elizabeth's determination to
give no quarter to the early Puritans, and which made little or
no progress for another half century still. The evidence is simply
overwhelming, which shows that, during the whole period from
1552 onwards, the English Church was considered by friends
and foes alike to be, for all intents and purposes, one with the
Swiss Churches of Zurich and Geneva.2
The truth upon this subject is so patent to the unpre-
judiced mind that, not in serious histories merely, but even
in the daily press, and on the public platforms it is taken as
a matter of course. An instance or two here will not be
out of place.
Taking up a Protestant paper3 1 came across an account
of a meeting at which Sir G. Osborne Morgan, M.P.,
took the chair. Though a Protestant himself, and son
of the Kev. M. Morgan, Protestant Vicar of Conway,
Carnarvonshire, he nevertheless delivered himself in the
following words : —
What was the Church of England as by law established?
He would answer the question in the words of the highest
legal authority in the land. ' The Established Church,' says the
Chief Justice of England, ' is a political institution, established,
created, and protected by law, absolutely dependent upon
Parliament.' Why, every student of English history knew that
1 Child, Church and State, pp. 272-4.
2 Ibid., pp. 272-4.
3 The Manchester Guardian, Sept. 21st, 1893.
26 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
if a very bad king had not fallen in -love with a veiy pretty
woman, and desired to get divorced from his plain and elderly
wife, and had not compelled a servile Parliament to carry out
his wishes, there would, in all human probability, never have
been an Established Church at all. Last year, just before the
General Election, he had stated this fact, upon which a reverend
gentleman, Canon West, of Manchester, had offered 4*10 towards
his election expenses if he could name the Act of Parliament by
which the Church of England was established. He had named
six of these Acts, but he never got his £10.
The baronet then went on to say that —
When the Established Church said, ' Orthodoxy is my doxy,
and heterodoxy is everybody else's doxy,' it could not claim,
like the Church of Eome, a divine mandate, but only a Parlia-
mentary mandate for the assertion.
The Puseyites of the last generation, or the Anglo-Catholics,
as they called themselves, insisted that the Church of England
was the only true Catholic Church, and that the Church of Home
was nothing but a corrupt and heretical departure from the same
primitive Church. But when they came to look around them,
and saw from one pulpit a man preaching Calvinism and
another Deism, and found that their only protection against their
errors was a human tribunal — i.e., the Privy Council, upon which
Jews and infidels might sit — everyone of them who had a grain
of honesty in his nature went over with Cardinal Newman to
the Church of Eome — a Church which, at least, rested its claim
to infallibility on something higher than an Act of Parliament or
a judicial committee.
I will now make an extract from a Protestant London
daily.1 In a conspicuous leader, this influential paper
expresses its opinion in these outspoken words : —
The Anglicans may still persist in patronizing the Roman
Catholics as a new set of modern dissidents under the old name.
It is the sort of vengeance which, under favourable circumstances,
the mouse may enjoy at the expense of the elephant. If he can
mount high enough by artificial means, the smallest of created
things may contrive to look down on the greatest, and to affect
to compassionate his want of range. For purposes of contro-
versy the Anglican could talk of himself as a terrestrial ancient
of days, and regret the rage for innovation which led, not to his
separation from Eome, but to Rome's from him. So might the
pebble, if determined to put a good face on it, wonder what had
become of the rock, and recite the parable of the return of the
prodigal to the Atlas range.
1 T)iv Daily Xews, Sept. 19th, 1893.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 27
Thus far we have quoted merely the serious judgment of
a few among the many Protestant bishops, clergymen,
historians, and ecclesiastical authors, as well as the common
press and platform utterances, which sometimes indicate
more clearly than history, the common-sense view of any
question before the public mind. Now, we shall not call up
any more living authorities, for they can, at best, but declare
what the result of their study of the Keformation period
may be, and what conclusions they have come to ; but I
will turn to simple, undeniable contemporary facts. I am
going to invite you, my readers, to pass your own judgment
upon these facts, and ask you candidly whether these facts
support the continuity theory, or whether they utterly
destroy it. As the very touch-stone, I will select the
attitude of the early English Church to the Vicar of Christ,
the Pope.
(A.) English history tells us that in 1245 the English
bishops and clergy, assembled in convocation, wrote to
Pope Innocent, and in their letter, which anyone who
understands Latin can read for himself, assured him that
the ' said kingdom of England was specially devoted to the
Most Holy Koman Church ; ' and, further, that amongst the
glories of the ' English Church ' was the fact that she was
' a special member of the Most Holy Church of Koine.'
They add that they themselves are ' devoted sons of the
Most Holy Eoman Church. '
(B.) About the same year the nobles of England sent an
address to the Pope, complaining of the monetary exactions
of the Curia, in which they protest in these words : —
Our mother, the Eoman Church, we love and cherish with
all our hearts, as our duty is ; and we seek her honour, increase,
welfare, with all the affection of which we are capable.
They also declare that the King of England is not ' the
head ' of the Church, but ' a most dear son of the Koman
Church.' Now, let me pause here to ask, will the represen-
tative of the continuity theory assert that men who wrote
and spoke these words were not ' Koman Catholics ' ? Does
he mean us to believe that a Church can be ' a special
28 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
member of the Most Holy Church of Borne,' and yet not
Koman Catholic ? Or does he expect us to hold that the
clergy and nobles of England were not Koman Catholic,
although they themselves declare that they are ' faithful and
devoted sons of the Most Holy Eoman Church ' ? We want
a plain, straightforward answer.1
(C.) The English Primate, Arundel, in 1413, with the
advice and assistance of convocation, drew up the following
profession of faith, to be used as a test to the Catholic
creed, as then professed in England, against the doctrines
of the Lollards. We retain the old spelling : —
Christ ardeyned Seint Petir the Apostell to ben His Vicarie
here in erthe, whose See ys the Church of Rome, ordeyning and
graunting the same power that He gaf to Petir should succeede
to all Petir's successours, the wychh we now callyn Popes of
Eome, by whos power in Churches perticuler special be ordeyned
prelates as archbysshopes, bysshopes, curates, and other degrees,
to whom all Chrysten men ought to obey after the lawes of the
Church of Rome.2
If Archbishop Arundel, writing to his clergy, had but
declared that ' the Pope hath no jurisdiction in this realm of
England,' the Anglican of to-day might claim him and the
English Church of that period. But, since he did nothing
of the kind, since, in plain truth, he said precisely the
opposite, and what every Boman Catholic in England says
and believes at this moment, will he explain how the
Primate and Convocation were not Boman Catholics ?
(D.) In 1427 the Bishops of England addressed a
letter to Pope Martin V. on behalf of Chicheley, Archbishop
of Canterbury, who had been accused at Borne. Now,
hearken to their words, and say are they the words of
genuine Boman Catholics or of Anglicans. They run as
follows : —
Most Blessed Father, one and only undoubted Sovereign
Pontiff, Vicar of Jesus Christ upon earth, with all promptitude
of service and obedience, kissing most devoutly your blessed
feet, &c.
1 Matthew Paris, pp. 992 and 930, edit. 1571.
2 This test declaration may be seen in the record of Convocation in
Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii., p. 355.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 29
They then proceed to defend their Archbishop, and in
doing so bear witness that ' the Archbishop of Canterbury
is, Most Blessed Father, a most devoted son of your Holiness
and of the Holy Eoman Church.' Nay, cnore ; they declare
that —
He is so rooted in his loyalty, so unshakable in his allegiance,
especially to the Roman Church, that it is known to the whole
world, and ought to be to the city [of Rome], that he is the most
faithful son of the Church of Rome, promoting and securing
with all his strength the guarantees of her liberty.
Again, will our continuity friends explain how a man
can be ' the most faithful son of the Church of Home,' so
rooted in his loyalty to her that ' his allegiance is known to
the whole world,' and yet not be a Roman Catholic ? The
bishops add that ' they go down upon their knees to
beseech the Pope's favour for the Archbishop, and in doing
so declare that they are ' the most humble sons of your
Holiness and of the Koman Church.'
(E.) So much as regards the bishops. Let us now appeal to
the University of Oxford. That renowned seat of learning,
at the same time, wrote to the Pope, declaring itself the
' handmaiden of your Holiness,' and adds : —
We, with united hearts, undoubtedly recognise you as the one
Sovereign Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ upon earth, and the most
true successor of St. Peter.
Kecalling the favours the University had received from
the Pope, it adds : —
Thence on bended knees, and prostrate with all obedience, at
the feet of your Most Holy Papacy, from our hearts we pay you
the tribute of our thanks. Casting ourselves, Most Blessed
Pather, at your blessed feet, with the utmost humility.
They then entreat that the Pope will not listen to any
accusation against the Archbishop, and in their turn bear
witness that ' he is a trusty son of your Holiness and of the
most Holy Eoman Church.' Bear in mind that this is not
the sentiment of a mere individual, or of an ignorant body,
but of the picked men of the greatest university in England.
The letter is signed : ' The most devoted sons of your
Holiness, the Chancellor and the unanimous body of the
30 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Masters of the University of Oxford.' Such was the
language of the men whom we are asked by certain
Anglicans to believe were not Koman Catholics !
(F.) Finally, Archbishop Chicheley himself wrote at the
same time to the Pope, addressing him in the following
terms : —
Most Blessed Father, kissing most devotedly the ground
beneath your feet, with all promptitude of service and obedience,
and whatsoever a most humble creature can do towards his lord
and master (domino et creatori), &c., &c.
He then assures the Pope that, he has been at all times
most faithful to the Apostolic See,' and that there is not a
' scintilla ' of grounds for the rumours spread against him.
He adds : —
Long before now were it not for the perils of the journey
and the infirmities of my old age, I would have made my way,
Most Blessed Father, to your feet, and have accepted most
obediently whatsoever your Holiness would have decided.1
Imagine the present Archbishop of Canterbury writing in
such a strain to Leo XIII. ! Will our continuity friends
kindly and frankly declare whether the above is the speech
and attitude of a member of the present Church of England,
or of a Koman Catholic?
(G.) Or, take the following letter, not from bishop,
nor priest, nor university, but from the dread King and
Sovereign of England himself, and say is it the letter of a
Koman Catholic King or of an Anglican king. It was
written nearly a hundred years before the letter just quoted
viz., A.D. 1339 (An. Eegni xiii. Edward III). The King
addresses the Pope in these terms : —
Let not the envious information of our detractors find place
in the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion
of a son who, after the manner of his predecessors, shall always
firmly persist in amity and obedience to the Apostolic See. Nay,
if any such evil suggestion concerning your son should knock for
entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be allowed it, till the
son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and always intends
1 WilkinB, vol. iii., pp. 471-486.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 31
both to say and to prove that each of his actions is just before the
tribunal of your Holiness, PKBSIDING OVER EVERY CREATURE, WHICH
TO DENY is TO MAINTAIN HERESY. And, further, this we say,
adjoining it as a further evidence of our intention and greater
devotion, that if there be anyone of our kindred or allies who
walks not as he ought in the way of obedience towards the
Apostolic See, we intend to bestow our diligence ''and we trust to
no little purpose), that, leaving his wandering course, he may
return into the path of duty, and walk regularly for the future.
Alluding then to some supposed unkindness on the part
of the Pope, the King thus continues : —
That the Kings of England, our predecessors, those illustrious
champions of Christ, those defenders of the faith (fide athletas),
those zealous asserters of the right of the Holy Eoman Church,
and devout observers of her commands, that they or we should
deserve this unkindness, we neither know nor believe. And
though, for this very reason, many do say (we say not so) that
this aiding of our enemies against us seems neither an act of a
father nor a mother towards us, but of a stepmother ; yet not-
withstanding we constantly avow that we are, and shall continue
to be, to your Holiness and your seat a devout and humble son,
and not a stepson.
He speaks also of ' the pre-eminence of your sacred
dignity,' and in another place of —
Your Holiness, who best knows the measure of good and
just, and in whose hands are the keys to open and to shut the
gates of heaven on earth, as the fulness of your power and the
excellence of your judicator requires . . . We being ready not
only from your sacred tribunal, which is over all, humbly receive
information of the truth, &c.
In his reply Pope Benedict XII. says : —
Being desirous that you should follow the commendable foot-
steps of your progenitors, kings of- England, who were famous
for the fulness of their devotion and faith towards God and the
Holy Eoman Church, &c.
In King Edward III.'s letter to Pope Clement, the Holy
Father is styled ' by divine Providence, Chief Bishop of
the Holy Koman and Catholic Church.' The King not
only addresses the Pope ' Most Holy Father,' and ' Your
Holiness,' but speaks of him as 'supplying the place of the
32 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Son of God on earth,' and ' having the care of the souls of
all Christians,' &C.1
Now if a king of England could indite such a letter as
that, and express himself in such terms, and yet not be a
Roman Catholic, then, all I can say is, no Roman Catholic
ever yet existed either in England or out of it.
(H.) For several centuries before the Reformation, cen-
turies during which the Pope was the Supreme Court
of Appeal for the English Church, and decided hundreds
of disputed ecclesiastical elections, the majority of the
bishops in every see were appointed summarily by the
Pope, who issued Bulls of provisions for this purpose.
During that period every Archbishop of Canterbury, and
every suffragan1 bishop took solemnly and publicly on
the day of his consecration the oath of allegiance to the
Pope.
Whoever reads over the oath will find thai it contains
the following passages, passages which, it appears to me,
knock the bottom out of the continuity theory altogether.
I [name] , Archbishop of Canterbury, will be from this hour
henceforth faithful and obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy
Apostolic Eoman Church, and to my lord the Pope [name] and
to his canonical successors. Neither in counsel, or consent, or
deed will I take part in aught by which they might suffer loss of
life, or limb, or liberty. Their counsel which they may confide
to me, whether by their envoys or their letter, I will, to their
injury, wittingly disclose to no man. The Eoman Papacy and
the royalty of St. Peter I will be their helper to defend and to
maintain, saving my order, against all men. When summoned
to a synod I will come, unless hindered by a canonical impedi-
ment. The Legate of the Apostolic See I will treat honourably
in his coming and going, and will help him in his needs. Every
third year I will visit the thresholds of the Apostles, either per-
sonally or by my proxy, unless I am dispensed by Apostolic
licence. The possessions which pertain to the support of my
archbishopric I will not sell, nor give away, nor pledge, nor
re-enfeoff, nor alienate in any way, without first consulting the
Roman Pontifi
(I.) A plain and very sure evidence of the Romanism
1 PagcH 126, 130, History of Edward III., by J. Barnes, Fellow of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1668. Sir T. Sykes Library.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 33
of the English Church in the same period is the fact,
that during the trials for heresy, the test approved
and applied by the English bishops, and convocation as the
touchstone of orthodoxy was a formula in which the person
was made to declare their adherence to the Catholic faith
'according to the determination of the Church of Rome.'
These words may be seen over and over again in the process
of the fifteenth century. A similar test is also inserted in
the form for the abjuration of heresy, drawn out in the
Exeter Pontifical, used at the same period.
Will any Anglican say that a Church that was ready to
send men to the stake who would not accept the Catholic
faith ' according to the determination of the Church of
Rome' was not Roman Catholic ?
If, indeed, we wish to know whether the generations of
Englishmen and women who lived and died here before the
Reformation were or were not Roman Catholics, how are
we to find out ?
Surely the simplest thing to do is to ask the people
themselves. If we wish to ascertain what religion a man
professes we just question him. We think he ought to be the
best authority upon what he himself believes: if he is not,
who is? And we feel that his free and serious statement
upon the point, ought to be decisive. For instance : were
my supposed Anglican objector to tell me, as no doubt
he would, that he is 'a member ' of the present English
Church, or that he is a ' faithful and devoted son ' of the
present Church of England, I and everyone else would
know precisely what he means, and no one would dream of
doubting him. But, if further, we were to stand and hear
him actually swear a solemn oath of allegiance to the
Established Church, our certainty on the point would be
doubly certain.
Now if we put this question to the English nation before
the Reformation, we shall find, as I have already pointed
out, that in Parliament, in Convocation, in the Universities,
the King, the Lords, the Bishops, the Clergy, on behalf of
themselves and their people, declared in 1245, as well as
at other epochs, that they were ' the faithful and devoted
VOL. III. C
34 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
sons of the Holy Koman Church ; ' and that the Church in
this country was a 'special member of the Holy Church of
Rome.' Why will not the Anglican of to-day accept their
cwn declaration of their own belief 1 He believes they were
Catholics ; he hears them testify that they were ' members,'
and ' sons,' and ' most devout sons ' of the Church of Eome.
Now, will anybody explain how a man can be a Catholic,
and a member of the Church of Rome, and yet not a Roman
Catholic, or will he have the hardihood to deny that they were
Catholic ? No, he cannot ! Will he deny that they were
'members ' and ' sons' of the Church of Rome? Impossible,
unless he contradicts his own words, and practically tells
whole generations of Englishmen, that he knows all about
their religion far better than they do themselves ! Will
he then persuade us that it is possible to be a Catholic and
not a member of the Church of Rome ? If so, I certainly, for
one, would not care to carry such a brief before the common
sense of an English jury. Nor is this steadfast declaration
of the English nation in any sense a ' fugitive utterance,'
as some Anglicans try to make out. We find it in docu-
ments which just precede the Reformation. We find it in
the declaration made by the kings, Parliament, bishops,
and University of Oxford in 1427. We find it in the
records of Convocation in 1440. We find it again in the
declaration of the King, Parliament, bishops, and clergy
in 1245. We find equivalent expressions in the letters of
Peckham, Beckett, Anselm, and Lanfranc. And if any-
thing more plainly still, in the dutiful letter of the Anglo-
Saxon King, Kenulf, in which (long before the existence of
the false Decretals, to which our continuity friends love to
refer), he declares himself the ' son of His Holiness .the
Pope, whom he embraces in all the strength of obedience.'
Is our continuity friend still incredulous ? Then let us take
the long line of bishops and archbishops in every see, for
centuries, who corne one by one, swearing the oath of
allegiance to the Pope, and to the ' Church of Rome.' If
this host of English bishops cannot be believed, even upon
their oath, as to the fidelity to the Roman Church, and if
such a declaration does not mean 'Romanism,' then I
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 35
really fail to see what kind of testimony would avail to
convince him. To crown this, we have the tests adopted
by the bishops and clergy in Convocation, by which the
Church in England refused to recognise any man as a
Catholic unless he ' assented to the Roman Church,' and
received all the articles of the Catholic faith, ' according to
the determination of the Church of Rome.'
We Roman Catholics feel that this is Roman Catholicism.
If it is not, will somebody tells us what it is? Nor was
this a ' fugitive utterance ; ' for we find it not only repeated
again and again in the documents of Convocation, but in
a standing form in the English ritual (vide the Exeter
Pontifical), and it therefore took its place in the permanent
usage of the Church life of the country.
It may be well to remark here, that much is made by
some of our antagonists about the disputes concerning what
is known as the ' statute of pro visors,' an important episode
of governmental friction between the English Parliament
and the Court of Rome. But it must be borne in mind
that the Act never received the assent of the bishops. The
archbishops formally entered their protest on the rolls of
Parliament against it. Over and over again, Convocation
petitioned for its repeal. The English Crown at the
treaty of Bruges practically recognised the Pope's right to
provide bishops, and the English kings themselves frequently
petitioned the Pope to exercise this right. Finally, so much
was the statute a dead letter, that as a matter of fact the
Popes provided far more bishops after the passing of the
statute than they did before it.
We do not expect educated and honest men to descend
to the childish plea of the mere Qhurch Defence lecturers,
whose practice is to pass off cases of friction between
England and the Roman Curia, as proof that England was
not Roman Catholic. No doubt, English Roman Catholics,
in those times, complained of and resented the heavy
monetary exactions of the Papal Court, and the intrusion
of foreigners. But so should we, had we been in their
place, and we should have held, that we were not one whit
less loyally Roman Catholic for doing so. Besides, any
36 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
reflective mind would naturally ask, ' If there be any weight
in this argument, where is it to stop?' "Where, throughout
the whole of Christendom, is the Catholic nation to be
found which has not had its quarrels with the .Roman See ?
France, and Spain, Hungary, Germany, Florence, Venice,
and Naples, and Genoa : who has not heard of their
numerous conflicts with Legates and Bulls, and Eoman
excommunications? Every historian and politician knows
that such elements enter into the staple of the history
of the most loyal Catholic nations. Catholic England was,
of course, no exception ; or, if an exception at all, an excep-
tion only in the sense of being, if anything, somewhat more
patient, forebearing, and reverential and devoted towards
the Holy See than the continental nations, and somewhat
more favoured by Eome in return, as Archbishop Peckham
himself tells us. If this fact of friction can prove that a
nation is not Koman Catholic, it would also prove, that
there never was, and never will be such a thing as a Koman
Catholic country at any time, or any place, in Europe, or
out of it, and consequently that the Eoman Catholic Church
never existed at all. When the Ecclesia Anglicana (the
technical term which Eome still uses to denote the province
of the Catholic Church which lies in England) protests, in
the thirteenth century, and at other times along the line of
her history, that she is a ' member of the Church of Eome,'
will someone be good enough to tell us why she should be
disbelieved any more than the Ecclesia Gallicana, the
Ecclesia Hispanica, the Ecclesia Florentina, or the Ecclesia
Neapolitina of the same period? In a word, it amounts to
this. Are we to believe the modern Anglican, who says
that our ancestors were not Eoman Catholics, and loyal
sons of the Eoman Church ; or are we to believe the
generations of pre-Eeformation Englishmen themselves,
when they protest that they were, and when their bishops
for centuries come forward to attest the fact upon their
solemn oath before the Church and before the country ?
In conclusion, I will put to any favourer of the con-
tinuity theory three simple questions : —
1. For more than four centuries before the Eeformatiou,
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 37
did, or did not the bishops and archbishops of the English
Church publicly swear an oath of obedience and allegiance
to the Roman See ?
2. Are, or are not Catholic bishops and archbishops
who swear obedience to the See of Rome, Roman Catholics ?
3. If the bishops and archbishops of the English
Church for centuries before the Reformation were Roman
Catholics, is it, or is it not absurd to maintain that the
English Church was never Roman Catholic?
Are these sufficiently plain questions, and is it unreason-
able to expect equally plain answers ?
The action and oath-taking of the whole of the bishops
of the Church in this country for four centuries is a tangible
fact and testimony. Let us then keep fast to the point. I
want the objector to fix his attention on those four hundred
years, and then to say straightly — Yes or No — were those
bishops who took the oath for those four centuries, Roman
Catholics or not ? And if not, then explain how a man can
be a Catholic, and in sworn obedience to (not in mere
communion with) the Roman See and not be a Roman
Catholic ?
JOHN S. VAUGHAN.
[ 38 ]
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL
THE natural advantages of Phoenicia having been such
as we described, the people who now occupied it
were in every sense well qualified to make good use of
such conveniences as the land afforded. Their great
source of power as a nation was their navy. Cradled
as they were on the shores of the Erythraean sea, they
were accustomed from very early years to a life on the
ocean, and the name of the 'world's first sailors' is quite
their due. They, and they alone, seem to have possessed
a navy at a time when other great powers, such as
Egypt and Assyria, could not build, much less efficiently man,
a fleet of vessels. Their migration from the shores of the
Persian Gulf did not extinguish these tastes, and their new
homes only tended to foster them more. Their skill as
sailors and navigators earned for them the respect of more
powerful nations, who made use cf them when conducting
expeditions by sea, though the Phoenicians themselves did not
use their fleet so much to acquire new territorial possessions,
except when founding some fresh colony, as for the
development of their trade. That the Egyptian monarch s
made use of their fleet we have good proof in the fact that
in those places where we know Phoenician colonies existed,
we find also relics of Egyptian domination which date back
to the time of the latter country's greatest influence abroad,
namely, to the reigns of Thothmes III. and his successors
of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. Such is the
case at Cyprus, also along the north coast of Africa and
among the islands of the -ZEgean Archipelago. This idea is
confirmed by the fact that Egypt had at that time no fleet
of her own, and yet supported a large fleet upon the Ked
Sea, the navigation of which is very difficult ; many years
later too we find the Bible recording that: ' King Solomon
made a fleet in Asiongaber, which is by Ailath on the shore
of the Ked Sea in the land of Edom. And Hiram
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 39
sent his servants in the fleet, that had knowledge of
the sea.'1
It is probable then that the Egyptian sovereigns availed
themselves of the services of these skilled navigators, and
by their means opened up trade with Yemen, and the
almost fabulous Ormuz and Ophir, which were such sources
of wealth to the potentates of those days. Their merchants
thronged the markets of Tyre, as the prophet tells in his
description of the glories and riches of the city : ' The men of
Dedan were merchants in tapestry for seats. Arabia, and
all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of thy
hand ; thy merchants came to thee with 'rams, and lambs,
and kids. The sellers of Saba and Keema, they were thy
merchants ; with all the best spices and precious stones, and
gold, which thy set forth in thy market.'2 The power which
thus accrued to Pho3nicia can easily be imagined. They
became the great carriers of the world, the trade of all the
great nations passed through their hands ; there was no other
power to compete with them; they were welcome everywhere,
for, as we have seen, they did not seek territorial aggrandise-
ment, but only commercial influence; they brought wealth,
ease, and refinement wherever they went, and the surround-
ing nations depended almost exclusively upon them for the
luxuries of life. When Sidon fell and Tyre took her place,
the latter's wealth and magnificence became the wonder of
the world, and Ezechiel thus describes the fittings of her
vessels : ' With fir-trees of Sanier they have built thee, with
all thy decks for the sea ; they have taken a cedar from
Libanus to make thee a mast ; they have cut thy oars
from the oaks of Basan ; and they have made thee benches
of Indian ivory, and cabins with things brought from the
islands of Italy. Fine-broidered linen from Egypt was
woven for thy sail to spread on the mast ; blue and purple
from the lands of Elisa were made thy covering. The
inhabitants of Sidon and Aradians were thy rowers; thy wise
men, O Tyre, were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal and the
wise men thereof furnished mariners for the service of thy
1 3 Kings ix. 26, 27. 2 Ezech. xxvi. 20-22.
40 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
various furniture, all the ships of sea and their mariners
were thy factors.'1 Tin, the metal requisite for making
bronze, was only to be obtained through the hands of
the Phoenicians. Babylon, it is true, had her own native
supply ; but their intercourse with Babylon was difficult, the
distance was great, and caravans were at the mercy of the
roving desert tribes. The Phoenicians devoted their energies
to opening up new sources for the supply of this precious
metal, and then quest led them to the shores of the Euxine,
and thus commenced their immense trade with Armenia,
and the Caucasus. Spain too was visited, and mines opened
there, while the search for the same metal drew them in
after years to our own Cornwall.
Nor while their ships were thus busy at sea, were they
idle on land. Jerusalem, according to Rabbinical tradition,
is the centre of the earth, and be this as it may, the Holy
Land was certainly the centre of the then inhabited world.
Day by day caravans filed forth from Tyre and Sidon, and
the Phoenician cities ; some wended their way southwards,
passing through Palestine and Egypt, or, turning aside at
Jerusalem, crossed the burning desert to the south-east and
directed their steps to Arabia, carrying spices, perfumes,
and precious stones, as long ago we know the Midianite
merchants did when they bought Joseph and sold him into
Egypt. Others, again, leaving Phoenicia would pass through
Damascus, and halting at Palmyra, would strike thence
across the desert for the Euphrates, and so find their way
to Nineveh and Babylon ; while a third party would go
Northward, and entering Hamath would turn aside to the
land of the Hittites, to Tipsah on the Euphrates, till they
came to Armenia and the shores of the Black Sea. Even
India was not unvisited, but yielded its quota to their
markets. Ingots of gold and bars of silver, rare and
precious woods, strange animals, apes and peacocks, spices
and perfumes, cloth and tapestries, ivory in the shape of
huge elephant tusks, and other trophies, constituted their
trade. Nor must we omit slaves, whom they supplied to
1 Ezech. xxvii. 5-9.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 41
the surrounding countries. Circassia, then as now, yielded
a rich harvest in this respect, and the beauty and grace
of the Circassian maidens ensured a high price to their
Phosnician captors.
And we must not imagine that these great merchants
were merely the carriers of other nations. They had their
own wares and their own produce to barter. Glass has
been claimed as their invention, though this can hardly be,
since we find it mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions which
date back so early as the fourth and fifth Dynasties. But
though we may not cede to the Phrenician the glory of having
first invented a commodity without which we should now
find life hardly tolerable, we can yet safely and fairly say
that in the hands of these unrivalled artists, glass became a
medium for obtaining the finest possible results in design
and colouring. Certain processes for the production of
variegated patterns are said, indeed, to have perished with
their inventors, and those who are learned in such matters
affirm that the relics of Phoenician glass-work which remain
to us, surpass in elegance of design and beauty of colouring
the best work of the great Venetian glass-makers. They
seem to have possessed certain secrets of their art, which
were handed down from generation to generation, and
kept as a precious deposit — an heirloom perhaps— in certain
families, just as the Scriptoria and colouring-rooms of the
monasteries jealously guarded their secret processes and
quaint recipes from the vulgar gaze, with the result that
no modern art can give us stained glass which for richness
of tint and fixedness of colour may vie with the work of
our cunning predecessors. For embroidery too and tapestry
work, the Phoenician women were famous in Homer's time.
The poet often mentions Sidonian work as of an especial
value, an offering fit for the gods. Thus Hecuba offers
Minerva a garment embroidered by Sidonian women : —
She meanwhile
Her fragrant chamber sought, wherein were stor'd
Kich garments by Sidonian women worked.
Again, the tin which they imported so largely was not
1 Iliad, vi. 334-336 (Earl of Derby's translation),
42 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
destined merely for Egypt, nor to fashion weapons of war
for the use of their less peaceably-disposed neighbours, for
they themselves were expert workers in all kinds of metals,
particularly bronze. It might seem from the words of
Ezechiel that it was the peculiar province of Carthage to
supply Tyre with the various ores required in this branch of
the arts. ' The Carthaginians, thy merchants, supplied thy
fairs with a multitude of all kind of riches, with silver, iron,
tin, and lead.' l For a long time the Phoenicians seem to have
been the sole providers of bronze implements, and statuary,
and ornaments wrought in this metal together with bronze
vessels and instruments, were exchanged by them in lands
which had not yet emerged from the comparative thraldom
of the stone age. Nor were they less expert in carving
ivory ; and many beautiful examples of their skill in working
in this material have been discovered in the islands of the
Mediterranean ; monuments of their work both in bronze
and ivory may be seen in the Vatican at the Louvre.
These commercial instincts of the Phoenicians had two
main results. One we have already noticed, viz. : the
establishment of a vast naval power, whose rule over the
waters was well-nigh despotic ; the other, the natural
outcome of the former when used by a great trading power,
was the gradual formation of a series of colonies at a com-
paratively short distance from each other, and bound to the
mother city by the ties of mutual support, and the bonds of
commerce. These colonies were spread over the whole
littoral of the Mediterranean, and, though at first merely
small trading stations, became in time the nuclei of
great cities and commonwealths such as Utica and Carthage.
The great work, however, which they achieved, though all
unconsciously, was the civilization of the Western world.
The spread of the arts which they practised so assiduously,
and the gradual diffusion of the more luxurious commodities
of life, exerted a softening influence upon the rude nations of
the West. Greeks and Bomans, Gauls and Britons, all alike
came under the sway of these bold sailors and merchants,
1 Ezech. xxvii. 12.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 43
till bit by bit, first one barrier then another melted away,
new modes of thought, new ideas of the good and beautiful
replaced the rough and uncouth manners of the inhabitants
of the Morea and Italy, preparing them for the day when
Rome and Athens, not Thebes or Tyre, Nineveh or Babylon,
should be the centre ; indeed, disregarding for the moment
all supernatural ends, we may look upon this as the special
purpose for which the Phoanicians were raised up. What
would have become of the arts and treasures of Babylon,
Nineveh, Thebes, and Memphis, had not the Tyrian sailors
disseminated them abroad ? It was through them that the
nations dwelling on the Northern coast of Africa or peopling
the isles of the .ZEgean Sea became more amenable to the
softening influences of literature and art. Sculpture and
architecture, embroidery and weaving, found not only a
home among the Phosnicians, as in Egypt and Assyria, but
also a ready channel through which they might diffuse them-
selves abroad amongst the rude and still unpolished peoples
of the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, their skill as
navigators enabled them to penetrate into portions of the
world which had hitherto been unknown to the peoples of
the East. For many years, indeed, they had confined them-
selves to the Mediterranean and to the Bed Sea ; they seem
to have had a strange fear of passing the Pillars of Hercules,
and for a long time the rivalry subsisting between Tyre and
Carthage prevented the sailors of the former city from
prosecuting their efforts in this direction ; but their genius
for discovery and exploration led them to face dangers,
which the mere love of gain could never have overcome,
and we find them exploring for a considerable distance along
the western coast of Africa, in spite of the rough and heavy
seas to which they were probably but little accustomed.
This then was the nation whose future destinies were to
be so closely linked with those of the Israelites, and we
have given at some length the foregoing account of what
we may call their physical and commercial history, because
we felt that a knowledge of this lends an additional interest
to that portion of their domestic history with which we are
immediately concerned.
44 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
At the time of the Exodus, the Phoenician towns were
evidently at the height of their power ; Josue speaks of
' Great Sidon . . . and the strong city of Tyre,' l and though
these cities were assigned to the tribe of Aser, it seems doubt-
ful whether the latter was not rather subject to his formidable
vassals : ' Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield
dainties to kings,'2 prophesied Jacob; while Moses said of
him : ' Let him dip his foot in oil ; ' 8 words which hardly
imply those warlike qualities requisite for the conquest of
Tyre and Sidon. The relations subsisting between Phoenicia
and Israel are of a very different kind from those which
at different times prevailed between the latter country and the
surrounding nations. Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, when they
interfered in Jewish affairs, were always masters, and always
claimed the rights of suzerains over the chosen people.
Philistia and Syria, by turns conquerors and conquered, and
when conquerors hard taskmasters, were never really subject
to the Hebrews ; if the latter rallied under some one of their
numerous Judges, the invader was merely driven back, the
Israelite did not conquer him and sell him into slavery, as they
did the peoples of Moab, Ammon, and Midian. These latter,
indeed, generally appear in a state of subjection, incomplete
indeed, and not inconsistent with a smouldering discontent
which showed itself in an occasional raid into their neighbour's
territory when bloodshed and rapine marked their route.
But of a very different kind was the relationship of Phoenicia
to Israel. The former never domineered over the Israelite,
nor was she ever his superior. Her influence upon him
was of a totally different stamp. Rivalry there must always
have been between the two nations, but war was not a
Phoenician pastime, nor was territorial aggrandisement her
aim. If she warred against Judaea, her caravans might be
cut off on their way to Ormuz and Ophir, and her inter-
course with Egypt by land might be seriously affected ; hence
the two peoples remained on friendly terms, at least in
outward appearance. But at the bottom of all this external
show, there lay, at least on the part of the Phoenicians, a
1 Jos. six. 28, 29. * Q.eni xijX( 2Q. » Deut. xxxiii. 24.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 45
deep-seated hatred which betrayed itself when Jerusalem
lay humbled in the dust before Nabuchodonosor. Tyre,
though the fallen city's ally against the Babylonian, could
ill conceal her joy at the awful destruction of the ill-fated
city, and her ill-timed exaltation brought down upon her
the terrible, denunciation of Ezechiel : ' Because Tyre hath
said of Jerusalem : Aha, the gates of the people are broken,
she is turned to me ; I shall be filled, now she is laid waste :
therefore thus saith the Lord . . . she shall be a drying-place
for nets in the midst of the sea.' 1 And this hatred cannot
have sprung from commercial jealousy ; rather the contrary,
for Jerusalem bought wealth to Tyre as all the other nations
did : ' Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants
with the best of corn, they set forth balm and honey and oil
and rosin in thy fairs.' 2
What, then, was its origin ? If we read the Book of
Josue attentively we think the clue to this deadly enmity
will appear. The Holy Land was promised to the Israelites,
with the proviso that they should destroy the Chanaanites
from the land, and the Book of Josue is little more than a
list of Israeli tish successes against them ; the abominations
practised by these nations had roused the wrath of the
Lord, and He had determined to extirpate them; the
Israelites, with Josue at their head, were but His humble
instruments ; and hence He said to them : ' Hear, 0 Israel :
Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day, and shall possess
nations very great and stronger than thyself . . . say not
in thy heart when the Lord shall have destroyed them in
thy sight : For my justice has the Lord brought me in to
possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for
their wickedness. For it is not for thy justice and the
uprightness of thy heart, that thou shalt go in to possess
their land ; but because they have done wickedly they are
destroyed at thy coming in.' 3 One after another their kings
were slain, and their people put to the sword: 'All tic-
kings,' that Josue slew, 'thirty and one.'4 And who were
these Chanaanites ? We saw at the outset that they were
1 Ez. xxvi. 3-5. a Ez. xxvii. 17. 3 Deut. ix. 1-5. * Jos. xii. 24.
46 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
one division of that large body which emigrated into Pales-
tine from the shores of the Erythraean Sea. The Phoenicians
formed the other division of this body ; they settled on the
sea-shore between Lebanon and the Mediterranean, while
their companions chose the plain for their dwelling, and
were cut off by the sword of the Hebrews. Thus the
Chanaanites whom Josue slew were own brothers to the
Phosnicians.
Now we see the cause of the hatred which rankled
under the external friendliness of the Tyrian and the Jew.
Though the Phoenicians had themselves escaped, yet the
fear of the Hebrews had fallen upon them as upon all the
other nations : ' Now when all the kings of the Amorrhites,
who dwelt beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings
of Chanaan who possessed the places near the great sea,
heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the
Jordan before the children of Israel, till they passed over,
their hearts failed them, and there remained no spirit
in them, fearing the coming in of the children of Israel.' 1
The roving tribes of the desert were then as now the carriers
and postmen of the country. Here to-day, there to-morrow,
coming and going mysteriously, living from hand to mouth,
and shifting their quarters according to the supply of forage
and water, they made themselves acquainted with every-
thing that was doing, and we can well believe that the news
thus transmitted from one scout to another, and passed on
from camp to camp and from tribe to tribe, was strangely
distorted by the time it had gone the round. The Amalecite
would hear, as he hung upon the skirts of the wearied bands,
how the Hebrews had been fed miraculously with bread
which came down from heaven ; he would hear of waters
gushing from a rock in a place which he had always known
to be parched and arid, but which now tempts him to give its
fortunate possessors battle, and claim it for his own ; while
lastly, some straggler would tell him of the marvellous
scenes on Mount Sinai, and of the promises made to the
people ; they were going to claim a land which they said
1 Jos. v. i.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 47
was theirs by right of promise from God ; they were to drive
out and put to the sword all its occupants, because they had
offended against that same God, and their coming was to be
the signal for fear and horror and dread which should fall
upon all their foes. Thus would the tale pass like lightning
from mouth to mouth, growing daily with each successive
victory gained by the Israelites. ' I know,' said Kahab,
' that the Lord hath given this land to you : for the dread
of you has fallen upon us and all the inhabitants of the land
have lost all strength.'1 And as the list of the slaughtered
kings and pillaged towns daily swelled ; as the danger and
the terror came nearer to Phoenicia ; as they heard of now
one familiar tribe, now another, falling into the hands of the
invader, how deadly a hatred, begotten of fear, would they
conceive for this seemingly ruthless destroyer whose power
was evidently supernatural, whose sword seemed to know
no dulness, whose heart no pity ; who slew women and
children like sheep and oxen, who levelled towns to the
ground after one day's siege, or blew his trumpets and
gained an entrance into the city over its prostrate wall.
But Josue's successes came to an end at last ; the want
of rest and repose, the hitherto unknown joys of a country
flowing with milk and honey enervated the Israelites, and
they settled down to the enjoyments of their new possession
ere their work was completed. The Chanaanite by the sea-
shore had escaped his doom, and henceforward was to dwell
side by side with the destroyer of his brethren. Generation
after generation would pass away, but can we think that the
story of that night of horror would fade from the Phoenician
heart '? ' Who are the Israelites ? ' would the Phoenician
child ask. And the answer would be the oft-told tale of the
Exodus, of the crossing of the Jordan, and of the slaughter
of the tribes ; garnished it would be, doubtless, with strange
and fanciful additions, but still a tale sufficient to kindle
the flame of hatred in the Phoenician heart, sufficient to
make the Tyrian of many years after rejoice in the fall of
Jerusalem. A contributor to Kitto's Biblical Encyclopedia
1 JOB. ii. 9.
48 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
mentions a Phoenician inscription which runs as follows :
' We are those who fled before the face of Joshua the robber
the son of Nun.' Another inscription is given by Suidas :
'We are the Canaanites whom Joshua the robber perse-
cuted.' There seems to be some doubt regarding the
authenticity of the latter ; but even so, the two are interest-
ing as bearing witness to the reality of the terror inspired
by the Israelite invasion, a terror which was, doubtless, part
of the punishments intended for them by Almighty God as
a penalty for their crying offences.
And now Phoenicia has a part to play : ' An angel of the
Lord went up from Galgal to the Place of Weepers, and said,
I made you go out of Egypt, and have brought you into the
land for which I swore to your fathers ; and I promised that
I would not void my covenant with you for ever, on condition
that you should not make a league with the inhabitants of
this land, but should throw down their altars ; and you would
not hear my voice. Why have you done this? Wherefore
I would not destroy them from before your face, that you
may have enemies, and their gods may be your ruin.' x
Phoenicia was to be a thorn in the side of Israel, an instru-
ment in the Lord's hands, slowly but surely working out
the punishment which His erring people had incurred. It
was not to be by force of arms ; it was not to be by intriguing
against her with foreign enemies; it was not to be by cutting
off her supplies, or by destroying her trade with the surround-
ing nations ; it was not to be by harassing guerilla warfare ;
but it was to be by the consuming canker-worn of idolatry,
the seeds of which they planted in the Israelitish heart.
Though it is certain that all the surrounding nations had
contributed their share towards the corruption of Israel,
whose children had been initiated into the rites of innumer-
able strange gods, yet to none was this leavening with heathen
superstitions so directly due as to the Tyrians and Sidonians.
They thus revenged themselves upon the destroyers of their
brethren; but they were the all-unconscious instruments of
the offended God of Israel. He had put life and death before
1 Judges ii. 1-3.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 49
them : ' I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I
have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.
Choose, therefore, life that both thou and thy seed may
live.' x And they chose death.
How, then, was this brought about ? Shortly after the
fall of Sidon, which we have described as taking place in
the year 1209 B.C., the Phoenician towns entered into an
offensive and defensive alliance against the Philistines. Of
this league Tyre gradually assumed the hegemony, a position
which she was to retain for many years to come. It is from
this time that her influence upon Israel dates. In the year
1015 B.C., when Solomon was preparing to carry out his
father David's behest, and build the temple so long promised
to the Lord, he made a commercial treaty with Hiram,
King of Tyre, who had been a friend of his father and
himself, sought this alliance with Solomon.2 Perhaps he was
led to this by the increased power of Israel, for Solomon's
dominions now entered from Ailath on the Bed Sea to
Tipsah on the Euphrates, and the kingdom was at the
height of its commercial fame and military renown. For
the Phoenicians, however, the strip of land constituting
Phoenicia proper was sufficient : the seas were their
inheritance, and their indifference to territorial possessions
in Palestine was shown by Hiram's disregard for the gift
which Solomon made him in return for his assistance in
the building of the temple. The king offered him twenty
cities in Galilee, but when the Tyrian monarch came to look
at them, ' they pleased him not, and he called them the
land of Cabul (displeasure) unto this day.' 3 A cursory
reading of the Third Book of Kings might tempt us to
think very little of this famous friendship as affecting the
future of Israel, but readers of the Bible must have been
struck by the seemingly sudden and inexplicable reversion
of the people to idolatry at the mere call of Jeroboam ; and,
perhaps, the clue is to be sought in this friendly alliance
between Solomon and Hiram. First of all we are told that
over one hundred and eighty thousand men were employed
1 Deut. xxx. 19. 2 3 Kin^s v. 1. 3 3 Kings ix. 12, 13.
VOL. III. \)
50 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
in the forests of Lebanon, cutting down trees and hewing
stones for the intended building; and as Solomon was
occupied in building during the best part of his reign of
thirty-nine years, we can safely assign twenty-five years as
the period during which this fellowship lasted. Besides this
we read of united fleets of the two nations trading in the
Red Sea, and even visiting Tharsis together ; 2 and further,
Phoenician and Jewish tradition have it that Solomon at
this time married one of Hiram's daughters. Does not such
an intimacy as this explain the ready response to Jeroboam's
call? Nay, was not this apostacy the natural result of so
deep and so persistent a leavening with idolatrous notions
and superstitions ?
The curse comes upon King Solomon because he has
worshipped Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians ; adversaries
are raised up against him, and the end of his reign is sorrow
and affliction. Meanwhile Hiram dies, and a period of wild
anarchy succeeds. Usurper after usurper strives to establish
a new dynasty in Tyre, until at last Ethbaal, priest of Astarte,
places himself upon the throne, and succeeds in transmitting
it to his son. Juda and Israel too are torn asunder, and
living at feud with one another ; Jeroboam dies, and after
seme years there succeeds to the throne of Samaria a man
whose wickedness was to surpass even Jeroboam's: 'Achab,
the son of Amri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all
that were before him.' 8 The advent of Achab marks the
flood-tide of Phoenician influence over Israel. He cemented
the already existing alliance with Tyre by marrying the
impious Jezabel, daughter of Ethbaal, and from that time
onward his career was one of crime and idolatry, than which,
excepting, perhaps, that of Manasses, we have none worse
depicted for us in the pages of Scripture. ' He did more to
provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings
that were before him.' 4 And so universal was the idolatry
which these two companions in iniquity encouraged by their
example, that the Prophet Elias, who seems to have been
especially raised up to combat their evil influence, could cry
1 3 Kings v. 13, 16. » 3 Kings xvi. 30.
2 3 Kings ix. 27, and x. 22. * 3 Kings xvi. 33.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 51
to the Lord : ' The children of Israel have forsaken Thy
covenant, they have destroyed Thy altars, they have slain
Thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they
seek my life to take it away.' 1
And what was this idolatry which exercised so peculiar
a fascination for the Israelites ? Was it connected with a
ritual more gorgeous or more marvellous than that of the
law? Was it more joyous in its celebration, or better
calculated to appeal to the senses than the religion of
Jehovah? With our tastes and ideas so different from
those of the Jews of old, it is hard, perhaps, to give an
absolutely fair answer to this question, but from the little
we know of the Pho3nician religion we should be inclined
to give a decidedly negative reply. Baal-worship means
the worship of Baalim or Gods, for Baal is a Hebrew
word meaning ' master,' and each god was a master or Baal
in the sense that each ruled in his own particular sphere of
influence. This sphere of influence is sometimes philo-
sophical, sometimes religious, but more often merely local.
Hence we hear of Baal-Phegor, Baal-Tsour (Tyre), Baal-
Sidon, and even of Baal-Zebub (the Lord of Flies). All
these Baalim were, however, but personifications of one
Primordial Deity, who at Tyre was known under the
name of Melkartb. This name Lemormant thinks to be
merely a corruption of trrv&p, Melek-Erath, the king
or Baal of the city. Melkarth retains this name merely
as the tutelar deity of the city, but according as he
assumes other functions so he assumes other names, and
we hear of Baal-Chon (the Lord of Life), and of the
awful Baal-Moloch (the Lord of Destruction). The rites
and ceremonies of this Baal-worship seem, with few
exceptions to have been of a very gloomy description.
Fanaticism and superstition were the order of the day, and,
as we see in the contest between Elias and the prophets of
Baal, the latter's votaries were compelled to cut themselves
severely, while many of the gods were thought to demand
from their devout clients frequent and terrible scourgings.
r3 Kings xix. 14.
52 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
One rite, however, stands out from amidst the surrounding
gloom, and excites our attention by the poetical myth with
which it is connected. Famous amongst the sidereal gods
of the Phosniciaus stands Adonis or Thammuz. According
to the legend, he is beloved by the goddess known as
Baalith ; but at the end of spring, when summer killed the
spring, Adonis was slain, funeral gatherings took place,
women wept, and lamented for Adonis, and offered funeral
baked meats to the goddess until the god was brought back to
life. Again he died in the autumn, when the autumn killed
the summer, and at this season, in order to aid the people in
their fantastic devotions, the priests took advantage of a
curious phenomenon, frequently observable during the year,
but more especially during autumn : for then the rivers
were at flood, and, charged with the rich red soil of the
hill country, poured their seemingly blood-stained waters
into the sea, tinging the azure waves of the Mediterranean
with blood, for many miles down the coast. This was the
blood of Adonis, and consequently lamentations for his
untimely fate occupied the time of flood, till the waters at the
river's mouth regained their normal colour, and the priests
declared that the god had risen again and rejoined his bride.
Upon this announcement a scene of licentious revelry
replaced the gloomy celebrations of the preceding days, and
the whole country round was given up to orgies of the
wildest and most revolting description. Such was the story
of Adonis, and the ceremonies connected with his worship
are alluded to by the prophet Ezechiel : * And he said to me,
If thou turn tbee again, thou shalt see greater abominations
which these commit. And he brought me in by the door of
the gate of the Lord's house, which looked to the north ; and
behold women sat there mourning for Adonis.'1 But this
legend, which has some of the glamour of poetic imagery
thrown around it, stands out by the way of contrast with the
surrounding abominations. Fire was supposed to be the
principle of many of their deities, and hence arose the
iJEzech. viii. 13,
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 53
awful sacrifice to Moloch, which Milton so powerfully
describes : —
First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice and parents' tears,
Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard, that passed through fire
To his grim idol.
It is awful to think that so hideous an idol should ever
have reared its ghastly head near to God's temple in
Jerusalem !
This, then, was the gloomy religion which the Phoenicians,
combined indeed with other nations, introduced into Israel ;
and it is hard to understand how so awful, so depressing,
and so licentious a form of worship can ever have taken hold
of a religious-minded people like the Hebrews. Terrible
indeed was the denunciation fulminated by the Lord against
the guilty couple who had led all Israel astray : ' And of
Jezabel also the Lord spoke, saying : The dogs shall eat
Jezabel also, in the field of Jesrahel. If Achab die in the
city, the dogs shall eat him ; but if he die in the field, the
birds of the air shall eat him. Now, there was not such
another as Achab. who was sold to do evil in the sight of the
Lord, for his wife Jezabel set him on.'1 But the evil was
not to cease with them. If Israel was steeped in Baal-
worship ; Juda had as yet escaped comparatively unscathed,
though tainted, indeed, by the idolatry introduced by
Solomon. But in an evil day, Joram, the son of Josaphat
married the daughter of Achab and Jezabel.2 He was head-
strong and wilful, but Jezabel's daughter had inherited all
her mother's wickedness, and, if possible, a double share of
her strength of character. In both these daughters of Tyre
we see the same domination over their husbands : the weak
Achab was led on by Jezabel, the headstrong Joram was
ruled by Athalia : ' He walked in the ways of the kings of
Israel as the house of Achab had done, for his wife was a
daughter of Achab, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.'3
Baal-worship is established, the temple is profaned, the
sacrifice ceases, the whole land groans under the curse of
1 3 Kings xxi. 23-25. 24 Kings viii. 18. » 2 Paralip. xxi, 6.
54 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
idolatry. But worse is to follow, Jorain dies and is succeeded
by Ochozias his son. ' He also walked in the ways of the
house of Achab, for his mother pushed him on to do wickedly.'
He, however, met his death at the hands of the Syrians ; and
his mother, worthy daughter of Jezabel, added to the already
long list of her crimes by a butchery which has but few
rivals in the blood-stained history of oriental despotism.2
' Athalia, his mother, seeing that her son was dead, rose up
and killed all the royal family of the house of Jorarn.'
She then established herself upon the throne, and for six
years was free to indulge her idolatrous tastes till she met
her well-merited death at the hands of Joiada, the High
Priest, who had sheltered Joas, the son of Ochozias, when
he escaped the slaughter of his brethren.3 Such were the
evils which this Tyrian alliance had brought upon the chosen
people. The curse, as foretold long ago, had come upon
them : — ' If you will embrace the errors of these nations
that dwell among you, and make marriages with them, and
join friendships ; know ye for a certainty that the Lord your
God will not destroy them before your face, but they shall
be a pit and a snare in your way, and a stumbling-block at
your side, and stakes in your eyes, till He take you away and
destroy you from off this excellent land which He hath given
you.' * The day of retribution was coming on apace. The
second Assyrian Empire was daily gathering strength,
Salmanaser and Sargon would soon be before the walls of
Samaria ; the terrible name of Sennacherib would soon strike
terror to the heart of Ezechias, and Jerusalem was preparing
for Nabuchodonosor and Babylon.
To return to the history of Tyre. From the fall of Sidon,
in 1209 B.C., to the foundation of Carthage, in 872 B.C., may
be reckoned the period of Tyre's greatest glory. But just as
Sidon yielded to the growing importance of her daughter,
so Tyre, in turn, paled before the splendour of Carthage.
The history of the foundation of Carthage is briefly as
follows : King Ethbaal, as we have seen, had succeeded in
founding a dynasty which endured for four generations. The
1 2 Paralip. xxii. 3. » 2 Paralip. xxiii. 16.
3 2 Paralip. xxii. 10. * Jos. xxii. 12, 13.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 55
third of these was that of Mathan, who died leaving two
children, Piimelioun and Elissar: the former is better known
as Pygmalion, the latter as the famous Dido of the Aeneid.
Their father had wished them to reign conjointly, but this
the democratic party in the state refused to allow, and
seated Pygmalion on the throne to the exclusion of his
sister. The latter married, but her husband was shortly
afterwards slain by her brother's orders, and Elissar, in fear
of a like fate, fled with great numbers of the aristocratic
party to Cambe in Africa. Cambe had been founded a few
years before by Sidon, but was as yet undeveloped owing to
the flourishing condition of the neighbouring Tyrian colony
of Utica; it was now, however, to be changed into the historical
city of Carthage, which name is probably a corruption
of nnnTy — New City. From this time Tyre's importance
gradually waned : she was still rich and opulent for many
years, but Carthage was a rival power in the heart of her
colonies.
Hitherto the only troubles which we have seen inter-
fering with the happiness and prosperity of Phrenicia have
been either periods of revolution and anarchy amongst
themselves, or occasional predatory incursions on the part
of the Philistines. With the Egyptians the Phosnicians
always managed to remain at peace, even when the former
marched year by year through Palestine to fight against the
warlike Hittites on the Orontes ; for they never despised the
easy though ignoble means of pacifying such formidable foes,
and prompt submission with large payments from their
treasury always enabled them to rest in security. But a
power now comes upon the scene which is to change the
destinies of the nations. About the year 900 B.C. the king-
dom of Assyria awoke from the state of lethargy in which
it had so long lain, and its kings began a career of conquest
which lasted for close upon three hundred years. Year after
year the barbarian monarch would cross the Euphrates at
the head of his army and direct his steps to Syria or Palestine
or Asia Minor. Towns were burned and pillaged, cities
levelled to the ground, and whole peoples carried of into
a cruel captivity. About the year 880 B.C., Assurnazipal,
56 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the reigning monarch, turned his attention to Phoenicia and
exacted a heavy tribute from the cities of the district in
silver and gold, steel and bronze, besides implements of
iron, curious woods and rich stuffs. From that time till
the end of the Assyrian Empire, Phoenicia was forced to
acknowledge its sovereignty, with the exception of one
short interval ; and when Nineveh crumbled away, its
place as the ' hammer of nations,' was taken by Babylon,
whose king, Nabuchodonosor, wreaked a fearful vengeance
upon the luckless Tyre for refusing to pay the tribute yearly
demanded of her. From the year 720 B.C. the history of
Tyre is practically the history of her sieges ; and perhaps no
city in the world, not even excepting Troy, ever endured
such terrible blockades or defied for so many years the efforts
of a beleaguering army. In that same year, 720 B.C., the
famous Sargon appeared before the city walls. The other
Phoenician cities, and even Palae-Tyrus itself, the portion
of the city which stood upon the mainland, bowed before the
invader, and even helped him in his assault upon the island
citadel. Perhaps the reason of this defection may be sought
in the hegemony of Tyre : she may, as head of the league,
have exacted a deference and submission wThich galled upon
the neighbouring towns. But, though everywhere else
successful, and fresh from the storming of Samaria, which
his predecessor Salmanasar had been besieging for nearly three
years, Sargon was not so successful here. For five years
his armies encompassed the beleaguered city, but the island-
fortress defied all his efforts, and the baffled monarch was at
length compelled to draw off his forces and retire discomfited.
A few years afterwards, however, the city succumbed before
the terrible Sennacherib, who stormed the city in the year
700 B.C. Elouli, the same king who had so successfully
withstood Sargon twenty years before, threw himself into
his citadel, and prepared to defend it with the same vigour as
he had shown against his assailant's father ; but the assault
of Sennacherib overwhelmed him, and the unhappy island
was compelled to surrender. Sidon, as soon as the avenger
had departed, claimed the hegemony which she had lost
more than six hundred years before, and after a few years
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 57
she ventured to refuse the annual tribute demanded by the
Assyrian Court ; but the reigning monarch, Assurbanipal,
stormed the town and decimated the inhabitants.
But Tyre, though beaten, was not destroyed. She still
retained her fleet, and Sennacherib would seem to have
treated her with leniency. Her trade and her wealth
remained to her, and she pursued her commerce beyond the
seas with the same ardour as before. Yet the end of her
disasters had not come, she had still to endure a siege which
surpassed all its predecessors in severity. The despotism of
Nineveh had been succeeded by that of Babylon, and from
the year 609 to 588 B.C. the Chaldeans kept up a continual
succession of incursions into Palestine ; until finally, in 588,
they took Jerusalem,and carried its inhabitants into captivity.
Jerusalem had leagued with Egypt and Tyre against the
oppressors, and Nabuchodonosor was bent on the destruction
of the coalition. As soon, therefore, as he had crushed
Judaea, he turned his arms against Tyre. Ezechiel had
prophesied the siege with all its horrors, for Tyre had
rejoiced at her rival's fall, and therefore the wrath of God
was directed against her : ' Behold, I will bring against Tyre,
Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, the king of kings. . . .
and he shall set engines of war and battering-rams against
thy walls, and shall destroy thy towers with his arms . . .
with the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all thy
streets ; thy people he shall kill with the sword, and thy
famous statues shall fall to the ground. They shall waste
thy riches, they shall make a spoil of thy merchandise ; and
they shall destroy thy walls, and pull down thy fine houses ;
and they shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust,
in the midst of the waters/ * For thirteen years the hapless
city resisted all the efforts of the besiegers, but the end
came at last. According to ecclesiastical historians
Nabuchodonosor succeeded in taking the city in the year
574 B.C.; but Chaldean accounts, which the Greek historians
follow, say that the mighty Assyrian found the task beyond his
power, and had to retire from before the walls as Sargon had
1 Ezech. xxvi. 7-12.
58 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
done more than one hundred years before. Ezechiel,
however, distinctly prophesied the capture of the city by
Nabuchodonosor, as we have seen, and St. Jerome states it
explicitly in his introduction to his commentary upon that
prophet . At the same time it may be pointed out, that one
passage in Ezechiel would seem to imply that the city was
taken after all by the Assyrian monarch : ' Son of man,
Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, hath made his army to
undergo hard service against Tyre; every head was made
bald, and every shoulder was peeled ; and there hath been
no reward given him nor his army for Tyre, for the service
that he had rendered me against it.'1 It is quite certain that
Nabuchodonosor would not have in any way spared the
city or its unfortunate inhabitants if he had once penetrated
within its walls after such a lengthy and exhausting siege; and
hence it may be well supposed that the city was so impoverished
as to afford little or no booty to the expectant soldiery.
It has been even suggested that an earthquake resulting
in the total, or at least partial submersion of the city, similar
to that which took place in the year 1837, bore an important
part in the reduction of the place ; and certainly the prophet's
words would seem to bear this out : ' For thus saith the
Lord God, when I shall make thee a desolate city, like the
cities that are not inhabited, and shall bring the deep upon
thee, and^many waters shall cover thee ; ' 2 and again : ' Now
thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are at the bottom
of the waters, and all the multitude in the midst of thee is
fallen.' 3 This would explain why Tyre yielded no reward
to Nabuchodonosor — ' thy riches are at the bottom of the
waters.' But Ezechiel's prophecy does not end with the
capture of the city by the Assyrian, as St. Jerome seems to
have expected, when he remarked with astonishment, that in
his days, Tyre, in seeming defiance of the prophet, was the
most beautiful city in Phoenicia. The destruction of the
city by the sea may be only now accomplished, and certainly,
in spite of her reverses, Tyre seemed possessed of a hydra-
like vitality which only the incursion of the sea could crush.
In the year 538 B.C., she came under the Persian domination,
1 Ezech. xxiv. 18. « Ezech. xxvi. 19. 3 Ezech. xxvii. 34.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 59
and though possessing only a shadow of her formsr greatness,
she was still comparatvely free and wealthy ; she even
ventured to rebel against Xerxes when he wasted the
Phoenician fleet in his attack upon Greece ; but the Persian
despot at once crushed the revolt and punished the city,
Sidon, which had joined with Tyre, suffering severely. Two
hundred years later we find the indomitable city ready to
stand another historical siege at the hands of Alexander.
He succceeded in taking the stronghold by filling up the
intervening sea with a gigantic mole ; he then garrisoned it
with a body of Carian soldiery, who made such good use of
the immense strength of its naturally impregnable position,
that eighteen years later it was hotly besieged and equally
stoutly defended by Alexander's rival generals. From this
time we hear but little of Tyre till the time of our Lord.
But how sad a change is revealed by St. Luke's words in the
Acts ! How terrible a fall ! How awful a fulfilment of the
prophecy ! Accustomed to domineer over Jerusalem and
the neighbouring cities, the canker-worm of pride had eaten
its way into her heart : ' Thy heart was lifted up with thy
beauty ; thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty ; ' ' the
prince of Tyre had said : ' I am God, and I sit in the chair of
God in the heart of the sea,' 2 but now he hails his Idumean
conqueror with fulsome praise : ' It is the voice of a god.'3
And so the glory of Tyre gradually waned. In the time
of the Crusaders it lived to endure yet another siege, bat has
since dwindled away, till, in the year 1837, it was almost
completely submerged by the inrush of the sea consequent
upon an earthquake. Some forty years ago but little re-
mained beyond a few scattered fishermen's huts, whose
owners unconsciously fulfilled the ancient prophecy : ' She
shall be a drying-place for nets in the midst of the sea,
because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.' 4 ' What city
is like Tyre, which is become silent in the midst of the
sea ? ' 5
HUGH POPE, O.P.
1 Ezech. xxviii. 17. 2 Ezech. xxviii. 2. 3 Acts. xii. 22.
4 Ezech. xxvi. 5. 5 Ezech. xxvii. 32.
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF
MOTION1
WHAT a grand idea of motion must arise in the mind
of a man who watches the sun and the innumerable
other orbs in the heavens and fancies that all are
revolving round him ! But cruel astronomy tells him
that, though magnificent, it is all a dream ; that it is he
that moves with the earth while it spins round on its axis ;
and that the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies is,
consequently, a mere illusion. One solid fact, however, he
has got : the earth moves on its axis. Other real motions,
also, he may find in sufficient abundance to enable him to
paint anew, as it were, a lasting picture of far greater
grandeur than the one that was shattered. The earth, in
company with the other planets, moves round the sun ; and
it is not unlikely that the solar system is only a unit in a
grand sidereal or cosmic system revolving round some undis-
covered centre. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are
violent motions and proofs of more violent motion in the
earth's interior. And on the earth's crust what an amount
of motion is discernible ! The restless waves and the resist-
less tides show forth most convincingly the motion of the
illimitable sea. What a cycle of motion there is in the
water that rises in vapour from the ocean, falls in soft flakes
of beautiful crystals on the ground, is melted, and again
carried off to its source ! The storm that dashes the angry
breakers against the rocky shore, and the cyclone that tears
up trees and overthrows houses in its course, proclaim that
there can be considerable motion even in the impalpable air.
In the vegetable world what an amount of motion there is
in the unceasing production and decaying of plants I What
a flow of motion there is in the springtime, and what an
1 Motion : Its Origin and Conservation. An Essay by the Rev. Walter
McDonald, D.D., Prefect of the Dunboyne Establishment, St. Patrick's College,
Maynooth. Browne & Nolan, Ltd., Nassau-street, Dublin.
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 61
ebb in the autumn ! Who can count the motions, or even
varieties of motions, of animals ? And, then, in each
animal and plant there is another cycle of motion from the
time matter is taken in as food until it is discharged as
waste. All this science tells to the disillusioned star-gazer,
as if to compensate him for the vision of glory she dashed
from him. She tells him, moreover, that the several chemical
and physical phenomena of gravitation, electricity, and the
rest, are all modes of motion, and that even the most
unsuspected and quiescent particles of matter are simply
seething with motion. And, above and beyond all, there is
the motion of man, who not only moves, but is master of
his motion. Everywhere and in everything motion may be
discerned. What is the nature and origin of motion, and
how is it kept on ? These are the main questions discussed
in the volume under review.
It must not be supposed that Dr. McDonald's book is a
condensation of the various physical treatises, with a little
metaphysics thrown in to give consistency, and that conse-
quently one need only obey the index to find a convenient
explanation of any physical phenomenon such as capillary
attraction or the Rontgen rays. Motion, in general, is the
subject of the essay, not the particular kinds of motion. These,
however, are frequently referred to either as illustrations or
to serve as the basis of an argument. The term motion
has two meanings. In its wider sense it means any change
of state or condition ; in its stricter and ordinary sense it
means merely change of place. As all other motions are
either founded on or analogous to local motion, the consi-
deration of the latter alone is regarded as of fundamental
importance. Accordingly the author restricts the inquiry;
though, indeed, as may be expected, he frequently passes the
bounds he has set himself.
How, then, is motion to be accounted for ? To answer
this question two theories are propounded — the dynamic
and the kinetic. It would be a mistake to assume that
these names are well known in the schools, and that a
formal comparison of their merits is to be found in every
hand-book of scholastic philosophy. Dr. McDonald, in
62 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
contrasting them, has, to a large extent, broken new ground.
He has, at all events, given a name to the theory he advo-
cates. This theory he outlined in a paper read at the
International Catholic Scientific Congress, held at Freiburg
last August. After the newspaper accounts appeared he
had ample reason to complain, with Mr. Balfour, that the
title of his essay had attracted more notice than the con-
tents. Everybody was inquiring what a kinetic theory of
activity meant. One curious wight from the antipodes even
went so far as to ask : ' Who was Kinetic ? ' The reprint of
the paper in the October issue of the I. E. RECOKD disclosed
to the lonely traveller and all other inquirers the inmost
nature of the kinetic theory.
It is scarcely necessary to repeat here the expositions of
the rival theories. The question at issue is : Is there in
nature, corresponding to the idea of force, an active capacity
not merely notionally, but really distinct, on the one hand,
from the motion it causes, and, on the other hand, from the
substance and its quality ? All Catholic philosophers, except,
perhaps, a few followers of Descartes, agree that substance,
qualities, and motion have a real existence. The only
controversy is about the existence of ' force.'
In writing this essay Dr. McDonald had two objects
in view. He wished, of course, to prove that the
kinetic theory is true; but his primary object was to
show, that it is not opposed to Catholic teaching; and
that, consequently, the door of the Church is not to be
shut against men of science who are driven, or fancy they
are driven, by scientific investigations to hold that there is
no such thing as force. There is, unfortunately, too great
a tendency to brand with some severe censure all with
whom we cannot agree. The stern legislation of the
Church is an indication of the extent to which this tendency
prevailed even in the holy men who carried on the con-
troversy De Auxiliis. Whether Dr. McDonald has proved
his theory or not, he has shown, at least, that it is not
uncatholic, and that anyone who will be censured for holding
it will suffer in excellent company; for, by an examina-
tion of several passages from Aristotle and St. Thomas,
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 63
he shows, that the great masters of philosophy did not
believe in the existence of a reality called force. Clearly
the passages cannot be cited and examined here. One
extract, however, must not be omitted. It is the distinction
of Ferrariensis which is so useful in explaining and defend-
ing the kinetic theory : —
God causes the act of the will immediately with an
immediateness of virtue, but not with an immediateness of
supposit, as has' been already shown with regard to the
other faculties. On the other hand, the will causes the
same volition immediately with an immediateness of supposit,
but not with an immediateness of virtue.
Some persons may be tempted to despise Ferrariensis
as an obscure theologian ; but the present Supreme Pontiff
commends him specially as a channel through which the
pure stream of St. Thomas's doctrine is transmitted to
succeeding generations. The above extract is found in
page 70 ; the preceding page contains the same truth
worded differently by St. Thomas himself. The distinc-
tion made by Ferrariensis is so clear, to anyone who knows
the meaning of the technical philosophical terms employed,
that explanation is unnecessary. His manifest meaning is,
that just as God creates the substance and its faculty, so, too
He puts into them the motion in virtue of which the substance
is moving. The actual motion, then, is immediately from
God and the creature, but with the difference already
indicated. Fr. Dummermuth's attempt to explain the
distinction from a dynamist's point of view only strengthens
one's convictions that Ferrariensis clearly believed in
the truth of the kinetic theory. From the testimony
of the physical experts and witnesses cited in the
seventh chapter, even dynamists ought to be convinced
that, at least, modern scientists are against them. The
word 'force' is almost banished already from scientific
terminology, and ' potential energy ' is fast sharing the
same fate. The undoubted tendency is to reduce all
physical activity to kinetic energy, or energy of motion.
Hence Dr. McDonald has done good service in informing
men of science, that they are merely returning to the
64 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
teaching of the Angelic Doctor; and that, accordingly, even
the most conscientious Catholic scientist may pursue his
investigations on these lines without fear of incurring
theological censure.
Apart from the weight of authority, ancient, mediaeval,
and modern, in favour of the kinetic theory, there is a great
profusion of what may be called intrinsic arguments scattered
throughout the essay. The publication of some of these
reasons in the Freiburg paper makes it unnecessary to
advance proof here, except for form's sake.
In the first place, then, the very simplicity of the kinetic
theory ought to recommend it considerably, especially to
those who respect the principle of parcimony, or ' Ockham's
razor,' as it is sometimes called : ' Beings are not to be
multiplied beyond necessity.' Unless the existence of a being
is evident to some one of our faculties, it must be proved ;
and unless valid proof be forthcoming nobody ought to
assert that the being exists. Now, force is surely of this
class. None of our faculties tells us of its existence. Its
ardent advocates may be beguiled into the belief that
consciousness is a witness in its behalf; but they are
mistaken. Its existence, then, must be proved ; a case must
be made out in its favour. To establish the kinetic theory
one has only to rebut that case.
Dynamists would say that if there is nothing in the
acting agent but its substance and faculty, created by God,
and its motion, infused by God, occasionalism must
be admitted, and the freedom of the human will cannot
be defended ; and, consequently, there is a manifest neces-
sity for something in addition, namely, force. In reply it
is urged that the admission of force militates very strongly
against one of the most important dogmas in theology,
namely, the universality of the immediate Divine concur-
rence with second or created causes in their actions. Thus
though introduced for the purpose of smoothing away
difficulties, it is naughty enough to excite new troubles.
Is not semi-pelagianism as false as occasionalism ? Moreover,
the charges against the kinetic theory cannot be sustained;
for according to that theory bodies really act efficiently, and
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 65
man may act freely. As an agent exists by the being God
has given it, why may it not act by the motion God has
given it ? We get our bodies and souls from God, yet we
call them our own. The motion, too, that God gives us we
may call our own. Hence as we truly are, we truly act.
Where, then, is the occasionalism or the Calvinism ? One
may be assisted in forming a judgment in this matter
by reflecting on the distinction of Ferrariensis, and by
meditating on the words of St. Paul, Phil. ii. 13, " For it is
God who worketh in you both to will and to accomplish
according to His will."
The charge of destruction of human liberty is equally
unfounded. What is required for liberty ? In this case, as
in the case of force, consciousness may, like a most obliging
witness, give, or appear to give, information suggested by
the questioner. Hence we ought to be on our guard. From
a consideration of the free act of the will we might easily
be led to believe in the existence of a cluster of subsidiary
acts, and from frequently thinking over them we may be con-
vinced that consciousness testifies to their actual existence.
May it not be that the charge of destruction of liberty that
is levelled against the kinetic theory is based on a misleading
analysis of the free act itself? What, as a matter of fact,
is required for liberty? Is not the agent acting freely when
at each moment of his action he may cease to act ? If that
be so, the kinetic theory certainly does not clash with the
doctrine of human liberty. Minor counts in the indictment
against it may be easily disposed of. Where, then, is the
necessity for this mysterious entity called force ? Notwith-
standing all its persistence, it does not stand the application
of the old Franciscan's ' razor.'
In proving and rendering intelligible the received
doctrine of the positive conservation of all things by the
Creator, the kinetic theory has a great advantage over its
rival. One of its upholders would have no difficulty in
giving the desired reply to the question of St. Paul (1 Cor. iv.) :
' What hast thou that thou hast' not received ? ' A reservation
need not be made in favour of the actual exercise of that
active capacity called force. An examination of the Divine
VOL. III. K
6(5 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
concurrence, too, is rendered less perplexing when one is
spared the necessity of inquiring how God immediately
concurs with the creature in that something, whatever it is,
contributed by that same active capacity.
The only other argument that need be discussed is the
argument from resistance. The argument is given at length
in the October number. The reasons given, together with
the authority of Aristotle, St. Thomas, and Suarez, ought to
place beyond doubt the proposition that resistance is due,
not to motion, but to absence of motion ; so that, if a body
were perfectly immovable, it would offer absolute resistance.
How, then, can resistance be a force ? Just imagine the
very perfection of active capacity exerting all its energy in
doing absolutely nothing !
But someone may say Dr. McDonald's argument was
wide of the mark. Formal resistance clearly is not
a force ; dynamists could not say that ; they can only mean
that the complex phenomenon — the rebound — is caused by
force. Let us summon as a witness Father Tillrnan Pesch,
one of the most recent and most outspoken of the
dynamists. In the Institutiones Philosopliiae Naturales,
vol. i., n. 69, this scholion is found : —
All forces of (inorganic) bodies are conveniently reduced
to three : nistive force (cohesion, expansion, resistance,
elasticity, repulsion), conserving force (inertia, reactio), communica-
tive force (chemical affinity, attraction, impulsion).1
This evidence of Father Pesch, this enumeration of
resistance, cohesion, and elasticity, as three distinct forces,
drives home and clinches, as it were, Dr. McDonald's
argument.
Almost innumerable points in the essay call for special
notice. There is scarcely an interesting question in theology,
philosophy, or what some persons would call the philosophy
of physics, that is not referred to. A volume would be
required for even a brief survey of them all. Only a few
can be selected, and the consideration of these must be very
meagre.
.THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 67
Theological questions, such as the physical causality of
the sacraments, may be left to theologians. To them, too,
may be entrusted an appropriate response to the strictures
passed in the 8th chapter, especially on moral theologians,
for their treatment of that "most shamefully ill-used " word,
occasion. The ultimate explanation of motion — God creates
a body now, now, &e., or here, here, &c., in adjacent
moments or places, as it were — seems to reduce motion to
mere resultance. This conclusion, however, is not the
genuine view of the author, for he repeatedly insists on the
reality of motion — the ' form in flux' of St. Thomas.
His notion of moral causes, and the explanation of
physical phenomena that arises from that notion, are, to say
the least, wonderfully novel. According to the ordinary
acceptation of the term a moral cause is one that causes an
effect through the medium of the free-will of another agent,
i.e., by persuading, threatening, or otherwise inducing a free
agent to produce the effect. In Dr. McDonald's view any-
thing that may have a right may be a moral cause, and
everything, and perhaps even nothing, may have a right.
An example from page 230 will make the view and its
application clearer. The question is — how is the reflection
of light to be explained ? —
We find ... it is a question of right. Now, of these rights
there are two : one in the vibrating ether to continue to exist
somewhere ; the other in the mirror, to exclude the ether from
its place. . . . (God) is bound to act in such a manner as will
secure to both substances the rights He gave to each.
In the next page he explains this seemingly ridiculous
use of the term right :—
Conservation is natural, and therefore due, in some way, even
to brute matter. ... If a vibration or a mirror may have some-
thing due to it, it has the same thing undoubtedly in some way as
its right.
Even granting the lawfulness of using the term right in
this sense, what does the explanation of the phenomenon
amount to ? Simply this : — It is natural to the ray of light
to go on in its course : it is natural to the mirror to block
the way ; hence God must reflect the ray of light. Not
68 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
merely that, but God sends back the ray of light in such a
manner that the incident and reflected ray have a common
plane with the normal to the reflecting surface, and both
make equal angles with that normal. Surely this solution
merely leaves the question as it found it.
This same doctrine of rights is applied to solve another
difficulty. All Catholics hold that this material universe is
limited in extent ; actual space, therefore, is finite : —
Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds ;
This be thy just circumference, O World !
On the other hand, according to the kinetic theory,
motion is never converted into potential energy or into
force ; whenever a body in motion strikes another body, the
two form one for the time being ; the motion of the first
passes into the second, which then has motion in itself.
Whether it will move with molar or molecular motion after
that, depends on its qualities; but move it will, assuredly.
Thus motion is never lost ; it is always conserved by the
Prime Mover. When this motion arrives at the ' just
circumference ' of the world, what happens ? Is the motion
lost ? or does the moving mass protrude beyond the
bounds ? '
No, answers Dr. McDonald, and rightly ; but his
reason seems queer. The ' pure space ' beyond is endowed
with impenetrability, resists the vibrations, and back they
go, as from a most perfect reflector, with undiminished
vigour ' to journey through the aery gloom,' until they are
again repelled at some other point of the impassable ' cir-
cumference.' The ultimate reason of this is, of course, the
decree of the Creator and Conservor of the universe. As a
more proximate reason the impenetrability of ' pure space '
is useless ; for ' pure space ' is nothing, and how can nothing
sustain an accident ? In exploring the mystery of the
Eucharist Dr. McDonald confounds 'pure space' with
' real space.' In the Eucharistic species there is actual
extension, and therefore real space. The impenetrability
of ' pure space ' is not an explanation of the extraordinary
phenomenon described above. Impenetrable nothingness
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 69
is a fine expression, but it has no meaning. A more satis-
factory explanation may, perhaps, be derived from an inquiry
into the optical phenomenon known as total reflection by
refraction.
. The finiteness of the space allotted to this review is an
insuperable obstacle to the working out of that explanation,
as well as to the consideration of several most interesting
subjects discussed in the essay, such as the production of
forms accidental and substantial, the nature of vital actions,
the temporal beginning of mechanical motion, the possibility
of an infinite series, and its effect on the dynamists' proofs
of the existence of God.
The reader may not embrace the author's conclusions ;
he may even regard them as not merely unproved and
opposed to the traditional teaching of the schools, but as
utterly subversive of the most sacred and fundamental
truths. He cannot, however, deny that the attempt to
harmonize the immutable great truths of religion with the
findings of the physical sciences is a noble work ; that it
was undertaken in obedience to a noble and most charitable
motive ; that extensive research, prolonged labour, and
vigorous, penetrating thought were lavished upon it ; that
an earnest desire, at all hazards , to discover and embrace
the truth is manifested from beginning to end. Neither can
he withhold a tribute of gratitude to one who made him
think for himself, not merely by force of brilliant example,
but by taking him by the hand, as it were, and in a simple,
familiar, almost colloquial style, leading him, confident and
undismayed, into a consideration of the most profound and
perplexing problems that can engage the attention of the
human mind. He must be very exceptional, too, if he can
lay down the essay without regret, or without giving expres-
sion to an ardent wish that the distinguished head of the
Theological Faculty of Maynooth may, at no distant date,
favour him with another intellectual treat by publishing his
views on some one of the many subjects of interest, that,
like nuggets in a gold mine of surpassing richness, are met
with in such abundance in this remarkable volume.
M. BARRETT.
[ 70 ]
IHotes anb (Queries
THEOLOGY
COMMUNION OF THE SICK
EEV. DEAR SIR, — "With reference to the concluding remarks
of your reply to ' Sacerdos Americanus,' in the November issue
of your valuable journal, may I ask what construction ought to
be put on No. 54 of the Acts and Decrees of the Synod of
Maynooth.
In virtue of the 3rd Statute of the Dublin Dioc. Synod of
1879, the old rule or principle, ' de S. Viatico ministrando,'
as given in Dublin Dioc. Synod of 1831, seems to have been
modified or abrogated to make room for the above No. 54.
As the old text of 1831 clearly embodied one of the opinions
of theologians — allowing Communion but once a-week — the
communior opinio, says St. Alphonso, the only admissible one
according to de Lugo, the question seems to me to arise, which of
the remaining more benign opinions — three, I think — might more
likely be understood as aimed at, and thus recommended in
practice to the Dublin priests, secular and regular, under the
Synodal enactment (No. 54) now in force 'that Communion or
Holy Viaticum may be given, not only once a week, as formerly,
but iterum et saepius,' yositis pomendis, of course.
I beg you, therefore, to kindly give your readers the advantage
of some statement on the above.
NEMO.
The Statute of 1831, to which our correspondent refers,
was promulgated in all the dioceses of the Dublin province.
It was as follows : —
Durante eadem infirmitate, Eucharistia, semel tantum, per
modum Viatici administrari debet ; sed singulis hebdomadis,
infirmis dari potest per modum communionis, etiam non sint jejuni,
si adhuc in pei'iculo 'mortis versentur. (See ' Statuta Diocesesana,
per Provinciam Dublinensem observandum,' etc., p. 95.)
It will be observed that there is question of those who,
during a long illness, remain in danger of death — adhuc in
periculo mortis versentur. Two things are laid down in
NOTES AND QUERIES 71
connection with the administration of the Eucharist to such
persons — (1) In the same illness, i.e., in eodem periculo
mortis, the Eucharist should be administered once, and
once only, per modum Viatici, i.e., with the special form
assigned in the Eitual for the administration of the Via-
ticum ; (2) the Eucharist might be afterwards administered
— etiam non jejunis — once a week — not, it would appear,
more frequently — per modum communionis, i.e., with the
ordinary form, as long as these same persons remained in
periculo mortis.
It may be assumed that the Synod of Dublin fairly reflected
the common teaching of the time ; but the question is now of
purely speculative interest. A distinct departure from the
teaching of 1831 was made at the Plenary Synod of Thurles,
in 1850. Among the decrees of the S)'nod of Thurles we
read : —
In eadem infirmitate, si longius protrahitur, parochi saepius
sacro Viatico aegrotos reficiant, cum illud iterum et saepius licite
dari possit. (Decreta Syn. Plen. Eps. Hibern. apud Thurles 1850.)
The Plenary Synod of Maynooth, in 1875, repeated this
decree unchanged. And, of course, the decrees of these
Synods have, as our correspondent points out, since found a
place in various Diocesan Synods, and have moulded the
universal practice of this country.
As against the Synod of 1831, the Synods of Thurles and
Maynooth clearly convey, in the decree above quoted, that the
Viaticum may, in the same protracted illness or danger of
death, be administered, not once only, but frequently — iterum
et saepius- In the later Synods, too, it will be remarked that
the restriction insinuated in the clause 'singulis hebdomadis'
is omitted. No time is defined for lawfully repeating the
administration; it merely said, saepius licite dari possit;
and, lastly the words used in the decrees of Thurles and
Maynooth — 'parochi saepius sacro Viatico aegrotos reficiant,'
might seem to indicate that, while danger of death lasts, Com-
munion should be administered, not in the ordinary form, but
per modum Viatici. However, many theologians hold — for no
solid reason that we can see — that Communion should be
administered per modum Viatici only once in the same danger
72 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
of death. According to this teaching, once the Viaticum has
been administered, Communion — whether the recipient be
fasting or not — should be administered with the ordinary
form Corpus Domini, &c.
How often may Communion be given to those in danger
of death ? The Synod of Maynooth says, saepius daripotest,
and leaves the confessor to determine how often, accord-
ing to the needs and dispositions of the sick person. The
confessor must, therefore, rely on his own judgment. He
should remember, however, that Communion should be more
freely conceded to persons at the hour of death than during
life. Moreover, he is perfectly safe in giving even daily
Communion to the sick person, if he thinks that the
devotion of the sick person is such as to render so frequent
Communion profitable. In giving Communion so frequently
the confessor may be acting against the opinion of certain
theologians — even modern theologians; but he will have
amply sufficient authority in his favour, and he certainly will
violate no law, divine or ecclesiastical. Lehmkuhl puts the
whole matter briefly and well : —
Durante periculo, toties quoties devotio et dispositio poeni-
tentis hoc suadit, S. Communio eodem raodo [i. e., aegroto non
jejuno] repeti potest, jejunio neglecto. Neque quod aegrotus,
quum sanus erat, S. Communionern non tarn frequenter sumpsit,
ratio est cur etiarn nunc, modo satis dispositus sit, raro ad earn
admittatur (ii. n. 161).
NOVEMBER OFFERINGS
EEV. DEAR SIR, — I should feel grateful for an answer to the
following question : —
To what return are clergy bound who receive from their
people ' November offerings ' ? In some parishes it is announced
that people may send in the names of deceased friends to be
specially commemorated on All Souls day. An offering is always
expected to accompany the names sent in, and in some cases the
sum of such offerings is very considerable. To what are the clergy
receiving these offerings bound ? Is it enough to offer the Mass
on All Souls day ? Or should other Masses be offered, and if so
what proportion should the number of Masses bear to the offerings
received ? SACERDOS.
The conditions on which these November offerings are
NOTES AND QUERIES 73
given and accepted are, we believe, regulated in some
dioceses by local legislation. Such laws, wherever they
exist should, of course, be respected. But, apart from special
local legislation, the clergy should let their people clearly
understand what return may be expected for offerings made.
Needless to say, the undertaking given should be faithfully
and scrupulously fulfilled. Further than this there is no
obligation.
It may be interesting to give here a reply of the Congre-
gation of Propaganda, 30th July, 1877, to a question very
similar to that of our correspondent. We quote from
Collectanea Cong, de Prop. Fide : —
. . . Invaluit consuetude ut pro unica Missa, quae in die
commemorationis omnium fidelium defunctorum cantatur, fideles
contribuant pecuniam. Summa autem pecuniae sic collecta
ordinarie tanta est ut pluriurn centenarum missarum eleemosynas
facile exaequet. Inter eos qui pecuniam hoc modo contribuunt,
plurimi sunt de quibus dubitari merito possit utrum earn hoc
modo collaturi forent si rite edocerentur animabus purgatorii,
quas sic juvare intendunt, melius provisum iri si tot Missae pro
iis licet extra diem commemorationis omnium fidelium celebra-
rentur. Quot juxta taxam diocesanam continentur stipendia in
summa totali sic contributa ut erroneae opinioni occuratur, in
quibusdam dioecesibus statute synodali cantum est ut nisi
singulis annis praevia totius rei explicatio populo fiat, missio-
nariis earn fidelium pecuniam pro uuica ilia Missa accipere
non liceat. Quae . . . precor ut . . . ad dubia sequentia
respondere dignetur (1) utrum praedicta consuetude absolute
prohibita sit. Quod si negative (2) utrum tolerari possit casu
quo quotannis praevia diligens totius rei explicatio populo fiat.
Quod si affirmative (3) utrum si timor sit ne missionarii praeviam
illam diligentem eamque plenam totius rei explicationem populo
praebeant, vel populus non satis intelligat, Ordinarius istam
consuetudinem prohibere possit et missionariis injungere ut, pro
tota summa contributa, intra ipsum mensem Novembris
tot legantur vel cantentur Missae quot in ea continentur
stipendia pro Missis sive lectis sive cantatis. Quod si affirmative
(4) utrum ob rationem quod Missae illae intra ipsum mensum
Novembris legendae vel cantandae sint, Ordinarius consuetum
Missarum sive ligendarum sive cantandarum ob etipendium pro
aequo suo arbitrio pro illis Missis possit augere.
S. Cong. . . . rescribendum censuit : nihil innovetur ; tantum
apponatur tabella in Ecclesia qua fideles doceantur quod iJlis ipsis
eleemosynis una canitur Missa in die com-nemorationis omnium
fidelium defunctorum. — (Vid. Collect. Cong. Prop. Fid., n. 893.)
D. MANNIX.
CORRESPONDENCE
THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH
EEV. DEAR SIR, — Dr. MacCarthy having made a second
attack on The Ancient Irish Church as a Witness to Catholic
Doctrine, I have again to solicit the editorial indulgence while I
reply. In doing so I shall not mould my manners to his model.
I shall continue, in what I have to say, to give him his name.
He, however, not to dwell upon the general discourtesy of his
tone, has never once given me mine, but perseveres in the
designedly (though feebly) offensive substitute for it to which I
drew passing attention in my previous article. Evidently the
opinions of a mere layman are of sovereign indifference to
Dr. MacCarthy ; yet I cannot help observing that his studied
disregard of all politeness is a defect in his constitution as a
critic that has very often been remarked upon in the past, and one,
too, that redounds, whatever Jie may think of it, more to his own
discredit than it does to the disparagement of the various
writers, myself the latest and least distinguished of the number,
upon whom he has, from time to time, vented his spleen and his
bad grammar.1
With some curiosity I have been asking myself in what way
can I have contributed to arouse the initial ire of Dr. MacCarthy,
for he is the originator of this controversy, and began it with
regretable taste and temper. The same question is being put to
me by my friends among the clergy. I know not what to answer.
I am unconscious of any manifestations of ill-will towards
Dr. MacCarthy. I refer to him in my book as ' the learned
Dr. MacCarthy.'2 There is nothing uncomplimentary in that. In
1 As a sample of Dr. MacCarthy's grammar, take the following from his
review of the Li res of Saints from the Rook of Litmote, edited by Dr. Whitley
Stokes : — ' Thereby, however, he has let slip an opportunity which those
foreigners which he fawns upon so would (if they had the wit to perceive
it) give a deal to perceive it, give a deal to possess.' 'Foreigners
which ' ! The ' it ' after ' perceive ' is an ungrammatieal redundancy ; and
the sentence would have stumbled less had he placed the ' so ' before ' fawns. '
See the I. E. RECOHD, 3rd series, xii., p. 15."> : Dublin, 1891.
2 Tin Am- tent Irish C/tuicJt ax <i Jl'Hiiess to Catholic Doctrine, p. 93 : Dublin,
1897.
CORRESPONDENCE 75
no manner do I run across him in it. Can it be — but, surely, it
cannot — that he became angry with me when he found me
tacitly preferring (as some critics do openly) the Oxford Edition
of the Stoive Missal to that for which he is himself responsible ?
Be this as it may, my little volume, undertaken in the interest of
the faith, has earned Dr. MacCarthy's contempt ; and I must
only console myself with the reflection that cardinals, arch-
bishops, bishops, &c., have condescended to put pen to paper to
commend it. As to any practical effect that has so far resulted
from Dr. MacCarthy's strictures, all I can say is, that he has
sent up my sales by hundreds. For this I am his not ungrateful
debtor. As an advertising agant I pronounce him a success.
And now to consider the substance of his last communication.
The Bobbio Missal is again prominent. To keep matters
clear, the point in debate may be repeated. It is this : Is it, or
is it not, allowable to adduce that ancient document as evidence
of the dogma of the early Irish Church? As the foundation-
stone of an argument for the affirmative, I, in the November
I. E. RECOED, brought forward Dr. MacCarthy's admission :
' The Bobio [sic'] Missal, in transcription, was the work of an
Irishman.' He now complains, as of something serious, that I
gave no indication of what appears in the next paragraph to that
from which I quoted. It is this : ' But it does not follow, because
the writing is Irish, that a MS. was written in Ireland ; much
less upon Irish subjects. In the present case the Mass of
St. Martin and the names introduced into the Canon tell as
plainly as the most explicit Colophon that the Missal was drawn
up for a church in Gaul.' I must confess that I fail to discern
how, or in what particular, I have misrepresented Dr. MacCarthy.
Take his belief that the Bobbio Missal is of Gaulish origin. That
was made sufficiently manifest by me, along with my own assent
to the proposition, when I said, in the November I. E. EECOED :
'My critic contends (p. 367) that the Missal in question " was
drawn up for a church in France, most probably in Burgundy."
Be it so. I am sure I have nothing to say to the contrary. I
am so far of his opinion, as my Appendix shows.' On this point,
then, there has been no misrepresentation of Dr. MacCarthy. As
to the rest of the unquoted matter, I had, and could have, no
object in suggesting, as Dr. MacCarthy's opinion, anything
contrary to what is therein expressed ; for it certainly formed
no part of my argument, for the propriety of appealing to the
76 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Bobbio Missal as an indication of early Irish faith, that the
Bobbio Missal, because of its Irish writing, ' was written in
Ireland ; ' neither did it form any part of my argument that
the Bobbio Missal is ' a MS. upon Irish subjects.' For the
moment I have no interest in ascertaining where the MS. was
written. Parvo contentus, I am satisfied to have the broad fact
admitted that the writing in tJie MS. is Irish. On that I base the
conclusion that the doctrine traceable in the Bobbio Missal is in
perfect harmony with ancient Irish doctrine. I am not prepared
to picture Irish monastic scribes, even in vinous Burgundy,
where the scribe of the Bobbio Missal wrote, as utterly
indifferent to what theological scripts they employed their
pens upon, like printers, who care not to what description of
religious works, Catholic or Protestant, they lend their type, or
as at all disposed to perpetuate documents which they could not
but consider pernicious and heretical, if the contents were in
doctrinal opposition to what they had learned in Ireland to regard
as the true faith. The soundness of the principle thus implied,
namely, the writing in certain ancient ecclesiastical MSS. being
Irish, the dogma inculcated in them is the same as that professed
by our early forefathers, is very easily brought to the test.
What is entirely to the present purpose, it is triumphantly con-
firmed in the individual instance of the Bobbio Missal itself ;
for there is not a single dogmatic point, such as the Canon of
Scripture, the Petrine privileges, the reality and efficacy of the
Eucharistic Sacrifice, prayer for the dead, invocation of saints,
devotion to our Blessed Lady, veneration of relics, &c. , on
which the text of that famous Missal has been copiously
extracted in my book, that is not equally established there, as
Irish faith, by direct quotations from what, for distinction
sake, I shall call }wme material, to the relevancy of which even
the captiousness of Dr. MacCarthy might be invited to take
exception.
To continue to afford proof of the propriety of citing the
Bobbio Missal as evidence of Irish doctrine, though further
proof is, perhaps, not really necessary, a strong presumption that
this MS. was actually used at the celebration of Mass by Irish
clergy (though out of Ireland) is found in the fact that on one of
its folios the name ' Munubertus ' is written, and on another
' Elderatus ; ' the first a Latinised Irish name ; the other a
Latino-Hebraisation (meaning the Servant of God) of the name
CORRESPONDENCE 77
of St. Deicolus, or Deicola, one of the twelve companions who
accompanied St. Columbanus from Ireland to Gaul, to share in
his apostolic labours.
I had said, in my November article, that the Bobbio Missal
was in use at Bobbio itself, where for a long time there were
always Irish monks ; and Dr. MacCarthy, I thought, would not
have traversed either statement. But he traverses the first one,
and appeals to Mabillon to maintain his opinion. The same
Mabillon, however, will inform him that the name ' Bertulfus ' is
to be read on one of the folios of the MS., and he (Mabillon)
believes this Bertulfus to have been the Abbot of Bobbio of that
name who ruled the monastery in the middle of the seventh
century.1 I take this circumstance to denote temporary posses-
sion of the MS. by Bertulfus, and as suggestive of a reasonable
presumption that the Missal was in use at Bobbio, at least in his
time. Nor is it at all certain that Mabillon thought anything to
the contrary. When Mabillon says that the Missal was not ad
usum monachorum Bobiensium, he may only have meant to convey
that it was not for Bobbio that the Missal was drawn up. He
extends his view to other monasteries, and gives his reasons.
But the probability of use by the Bobbio community is not thereby
absolutely excluded. Mabillon, it is to be noted, employs the
same expression, ad usum, when he expresses his opinion as to
the locality that the Missal, he believes, was drawn up for, namely,
the Province of Besan9on, containing the monastery of Luxeuil,
one of the foundations of St. Columbanus, A.D. 590 or 591, from
which the saint proceeded to found Bobbio, A.D. 612 or 613. 2
And now here is a question which I should very much like
Dr. MacCarthy to answer. For what purpose was this
Missal brought from Luxeuil to Bobbio, by some disciple of
1 ' BEBTULFUS alicubi legitur in ora folii cujusdam, quem putamus ease
ipsum Bertulf um loci abbatem medio sseculo septimo. In alio folio ELDEEATUS ;
item in alio MUNTJBEETUS,' See Mabillou, Museum Italicum, i., pt. ii,, p. 276 :
Paris, 1724.
2 ' Cujus porro provincise f uerit hoc Missale, non obvium 3st definire.
Forte ad usum erat Provinciae Maximse Sequanorum, id est Vesontionensis, in
qua situm est Luxoviense monasterium, unde Columbanus Bobium migravit.
Favethuic conjecture Alissa de sancto Sigismundo rege Burgundionum. Certe
hie codex non fuit ad usum monachorum Bobiensium. Nihil enim in eo de
sanclis Bobiensibus, Columbano, ejusve discipulis. Nihil item de rebus
monasticis; non benedictio Abbatis, aut monachorum; non benedictiones pro
monasterii officials, in ejusmodi libris jnonasticis usitatae:' See Mabillon,
Museum Italicum, i., pt. ii., p. 276; Paris, 1724.
78 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
St. Columbanus, perhaps the Burguudian Bertulf, * if not to
be used at Mass? To be made a mere curiosity of? To be
tossed into the armariitm as a thing of lumber? Surely not.
And as to the absence of any reference in the Bobbio Missal to
monastic matters, that may be accounted for by supposing, with
Dr. Lanigan , that it was ' a general Missal for the clergy both
secular and regular ; and in such case there was no necessity
for specifying monastic matters, or introducing into it the name
of St. Columbanus, &c. Besides, that copy was probably written
before the death of St. Columbanus.'2 The latter circumstance
is strongly borne out by some parallelism of idea and language,
between the Missal and St. Columbanus, which I place in the
notes. 3
In the opinion of Dr. 0' Conor, the Bobbio Missal was a
portable Missal, employed by the Irish missionaries of Luxeuil and
Bobbio in their labours among the Burgundians and Lombards.*
' Be this as it may,' says Dr. Lanigan, ' we may be sure from its
having been copied by an Irishman, that it was used by Irish
priests.' 5 With what object in view, I ask, does Dr. MacCarthy
differ radically, not partially only and on a secondary point as I
do from some of them, from the O'Conors, the Lanigans, the
Morans, the Malones, the Healys, the Greiths, and seek to deprive
the Irish Church of its powerful testimony ?
And now for another matter. Before passing away from this
portion of the subject, I am curious to know from Dr. MacCarthy,
1 ' De hoc eximio Missale, unum et idem sentiunt ambo [Mabillon and
Ruinart]. Sacramentarium esse, sive Missale, ante annos inille exaratum, quod e
Luxoviense S. Columbani Monasterio Hibemico, a quodam S. Columbani Din-
cipulo allatum fuit Bobium, steculo Vllmo, forte a Bertulfo, qui fuit teriius,
post Magistrum Columbanum, Monasterii i.stius Abbas, et Missale fitisse portatile
<td Sacra in ipsis itineribus cflebranda,' See O'Conor, Rerum Hibcrnicanim
Scriptores Veteres, Epistola Nuncupatoria, i., p. cxxx. : Buckingham, 1814-1820.
3 Lanigan, Ecclesiastical Hixtory of I i eland, iv., p. 373-374: Dublin, 1S29
:t From the Bobbio Missal (italics mine) : — ' Oremus Dominum dilectissimi
nobis, quia amara nobis adveniunt tempora & periculosi adproximant ainii.
Mtttantur regwi, vacant ur (rentes,' See Mabillon, Museum Italicum, i., pt. ii.,
p. 371 : Paris, 1724.
Compare with the Epistloof St. Columbanus to Pope Boniface the Fourth: —
' Dominus appropinquat, et prope jam in fine consistimus inter tempora pcri-
ciilota. Ecce contnrbantnr gentes, inclinanttir regna.' See Migne, Patrologia
Latitia, Ixxx., col. 277; Paris. 1863.
4 ' Ex dictis satis conwtare opinor, Codicem Bobiensem de quo agimus, esse
Missale Portatile Hibernorum Luxoviensium et Bobiensium, qui exeunte
Saeculo VI.. fidem Christi Burgundiis et Longobardis pnedicavere.' See
O'Oonor, Kcnnn Hibcrnicai"uin Scriptores Veteres, Epistola Nuncupatoria, i.,
pp. cxli.-cxlii. : Buckingham, 1814-26.
5 Lanigan, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, iii., p. 336: Dublin, 1829,
CORRESPONDENCE 79
who carps so hypercritically at some of my translations from the
Latin, whether, in the passage which he produces and translates
from Mabillon on the Bobbio Missal, Nihil enim in eo de sanctis
Bobiensibus is satisfactorily rendered, as to its full meaning and
point, by — ' For there is nothing in it of Bobio ' [sic].
A word also on the orthography of ' Bobbio. ' I had put it to
Dr. MacCarthy whether ' Bobio,' the spelling which characterises
his essay On the Stoive Missal, has the sanction of Italian writers,
who are the proper judges of what it ought to be, seeing that the
place is in Italy. In the tail-end of a note he mentions 'Bobiensis,'
' Bobiensibus,' and ' Bobio ' (the ablative, in the case specified,
of 'Bobium'), and, in a faint voice, says : — ' Note the single b ;
never bb.' But the Latin language, though the parent of the
Italian, is not to be allowed to decide how Italian place-names
are to be written, any more than the Anglo-Saxon language, the
parent of the English, is to be allowed to decide how we ought to
spell the names of localities in England ; otherwise, we should
all commence to write ' Theocsbyrig ' for 'Tewkesbury,' ' Gypes-
wic' for 'Ipswich,' 'Med-waege' for the 'Medway,' 'Medweagestun'
f or ' J\l aidstone ' (enough of itself to give one the typhoid fever),
' Scrobbes-byrig ' for 'Shrewsbury,' ' Searsysbyrig ' for 'Salis-
bury,' and demonstrate our pedantry in five hundred similar ways.
I append a couple of extracts from Italian books, just to show
how Bobbio is written.1 It would be a veritable puzzle to
discover a single Italian work in which the name appears as
'Bobio.' In practice, Dr. MacCarthy now admits his error.
He spells Bobbio correctly all through his last letter, except
where he is 'translating from Mabillon, and then, with amusing
inconsistency, he reverts to the single b — I suppose, in hazy
compliment to his author's Latin.
St. Cummian's Penitential is Dr. MacCarthy's next point.
Its authorship is matter of doubt. A Vatican MS. of the ninth
or tenth century attributes it to St. Cummian the Tall, referring
to it as inquisitio Acumiani Longii [sic] '-', and this St. Cummian
1 ' Fra' monaci ancora vi f urono alcuni che coltivarono a questi tempi gli
studi sacri ; e un monastero singolarmente .-i rendette sopra gli altri illustre,
dico quello di Bobbio, etc.' See Tiraboschi, Storia dclla Lettcratura Italiana, iii. ,
pp. 189-190 : Milano, 1822-26.
'Bobbio — Citta della Liguria cisappeunina, frammezzo le Alpi Cozie
distante circa quaranta miglia da Pavia,' etc. See D'Avino, Enciclopedia dell',
Ecclf.siastico, i.( p. 376 : Torino, 1863-66.
2 Moran, Essays on the Origin, Doctrines, and Discipline of the Early Irish
Church,^. 252: Dublin, 1864.
80 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
wrote in Ireland. Some authorities give it to St. Cummian the
Fair. Nevertheless — for argument sake — I am not unwilling
to assume that this Penitential was composed by another
St. Cummian — the St. Cummian who, at seventy-five, went to
Bobbio, and died there at upwards of ninety-five, somewhere in
the reign of Luitprand, King of the Lombards, A.D. 711-744,1 and
that the Penitential, so far, is ' continental in its origin and
application. ' What then ?
Granting all this, and granting too that extracts are given in
it from Penitentials which are not Irish, may it not be cited as
illustrating the nature of ancient Irish doctrine and discipline ?
Though possibly the production of an exile, is it not still that of
a typical Irishman? Or is a religious work, penned (say) by
Cardinal Moran in Sydney, even with some Antipodean applica-
tion, to be no indication whatever of what the Irish ecclesiastics
of to-day, and Irish Catholics generally, adhere to as the faith ?
I certainly fall short of the sublimated intelligence that could
appreciate an argument which, on the score of irrelevancy, would
seek to shut out this or any analogous evidence. The Bobbio
St. Cummian, when he proceeded to the Continent, an old man,
and wrote this Penitential, if he really did write it, did not then,
surely, learn for the first time to recognise the Sacraments of
Confirmation and Penance, the utility of praying for the dead,
the necessity of clerical celibacy, the use of altar-cloths, or any
of the other doctrinal and disciplinary points upon which its
testimony is quoted by me, and which are all equally substan-
tiated, as in the case of the Bobbio Missal, by citations from what
has already been denominated home material.
With regard now to a certain correspondence which is to be
traced between portions of St. Cummian' s Penitential and the
Penitential of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 668-690,
it in no way affects my position — again for the sake of argument —
to allow that St. Cummian took extracts from Theodore. This,
apparently, could not well be true of any but the Bobbio
St. Cummian. The opinion, however, may be mentioned — an
opinion not unknown to Wasserschleben, and held by Theiner,
Kunstmann, Cardinal Moran, and others — that matters were
another way about, and that one of the St. Cummians — some
say St. Cummian the Fair, some St. Cummian the Tall — was the
1 Wassercchleben, Die Bussordnnngen der abemUandischen Eirche, pp. 64-65:
Halle, 1851.
CORRESPONDENCE 81
unnamed Irish author whose libellus was among the sources of
Theodore's Penitential, according to the ancient preface of that
Penitential itself.1 This is made probable by the fact that in the
seventh chapter of the first book of Theodore's Penitential,
following a series of canons almost literally agreeing with
enactments in the Cummian Penitential, there is this ancient
annotation : — Ista testimonia sunt de eo, quod in praefatione diximus
de 'libello Scottorum, in quo, ut in ceteris, aliquando inibi fortius
firmavit de pesslmis, aliquando vero lenius, ut sibividebatur, modum
imposuit pusillanimis. 2
As a proof that heresy was not unknown in Ireland when
St. Cummian's Penitential was drawn up, and that I was justified
in citing St. Cummian's canons in token of how heretics were
regarded, I, inasmuch as dispute prevails as to which of the
three St. Cummians wrote the Penitential, in giving some
extrinsic references to heresy and heretics, purposely made those
references sufficiently elastic to fall in with the life of all. If
however, Dr. MacCarthy now believes that the Penitential belongs
to the seventh century rather than the eighth, why has he not
dealt with the Roman letter, written in 640, in which the appear-
ance of the Pelagian heresy in Ireland is referred to ? Why has
he not even ventured to parade the good old stock answer, that
the native Annals, &c., are silent on the subject ? But, doubtless,
he knows better than to submit such a rebutting argument to a
serious trial of its worth.
He next glances at the St. Gall Ordo of Penance. Of this
there is another copy among the Irish MS 3. at Basle. In August,
Dr. MacCarthy asserted that this Ordo was ' purely Anglo-Saxon.'
As a matter of notoriety, the form is one that was pretty general.
The Anglo-Saxons had not the monopoly of it. Now, he allows
that the writing in the St. Gall Ordo is Irish. The Irish, it
should almost seem, according to him, were always copying
Missals, Ordines, &c., which they never used themselves ! He
still insists that I have libelled our forefathers. Why ? Because
the Ordo alludes to incestuous practices. But I adverted to the
1 'In istorum quoque adminiculum est, quod raanibus vilitatis nostre divina
gratia similiter praevidit, quae iste vir ex Scotorum libello sciscitasse quod
difEamatum est, de quo talem senex fertur dedisse sententiam, ecclesiasticus
homo libelli ipsius fuisse conscriptor.' Sec "Wasserchleben, Die Bmsordhtuigen
der alcndlandischen Kirchc, p. 18:> ; Halle, 1851.
2 Wasfiersehleben, iJie Tiiisuwdnxnyen der abcndlandischen Kirche, p. 191:
Halle, 1851.
VOL. III. t'
82 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
fact that the forbidden degrees were not always sufficiently
observed in Ireland ; that marriage with the widow of one's
brother was not unknown ; that this Jewish practice was
condemned in an ancient Irish Synod ; hence toleration of it
must have previously characterised some of the Irish clergy ;
that its lawfulness was maintained by a certain heretical bishop,
a countryman of ours ; * that disregard of spiritual affinity con-
stituted incest ; and Dr. MacCarthy makes not the least attempt
to meet all this, or to show now where the libel comes in.
It is to make up for this evasion, perhaps, that the typo-
graphical errors of my book are again well to the front.
Excluding the last two pages, which contain the Irish Litany,
the little volume is as clear of faults of the press as I believe
most books are usually found to be ; and I explained, as far as
I am called upon to explain, how those that do exist in it arose.
Few objects are beneath the notice of Dr. MacCarthy, who
seems to have been tracking my footsteps very closely. He now
produces three mistakes in pagination, two of which were already
known to me ; and there my impeachment stands. If he could
even discover the grave total of one per cent, of such slips in
over eleven hundred minute references, it would be still no great
matter. Page 258 for 257 ; page 237 for 257 ; page 120 for 220,
are errors which anyone might fall into ; and Dr. MacCarthy
may magnify and make the most of them. I would only say, of
him, what Gibbon says, in regard to some similar petty oversights
objected to by that historian's critic, the Rev. H. E. Davis : —
' I sincerely admire his -patient industry, which I despair of being
able to imitate ; but if a future edition should ever be required,
I could wish to obtain, on any reasonable terms, the services of
so useful a corrector.' a
We turn now to the question whether Bishop O'Coffey is to
be considered Archbishop O'Murray's father, on the strength of
1 Lest Dr. MacCarthy should deny that Clemens was a bishop, I quote a
distinguished Church historian : — ' Bei eiuem andern Widersacher, dem
Trlandischen Bischof Clemens, mit welchem sich jene Synode zugleich
beschuftigte, zeigte sich eine ungleich grossere Besonnenheit ; ihm war die
Kirohe, wie sie damals im alttestamentlich theokratischen Principe erschien und
wirkte, anstossig." See Alzog, Universalgeschichte der christlichen Kirche, p. 400 :
Mainz, 1844.
:ilso the characterisation of Clemens in O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish
Saints, vi., p. 173 : Dublin, n. d.
2 Gibbon, A Vindication of some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Chaptuts of The Decline nnd Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 16: London, 1779.
CORRESPONDENCE 83
the term athair, applied to him in the Annals of Ulster. The
surnames being different, it has been suggested that O'Murray
may have been the Archbishop's mother's name ; but proof was
challenged by me, that in the Ireland of the twelfth century,
children, especially sons, ever received or took their mother's name
instead of their father's. None is forthcoming. Dr. MacCarthy,
like others, is unable to supply any. He lays it down, however,
that had the Annals of Ulster intended to convey that Bishop
O'Goffey was only Archbishop O'Murray's fosterer or tutor, they
would have employed not athair, but aite, a word which lives
under the form of oide in the spoken language. As if languages
that have words for ' fosterer ' and ' tutor ' do not sometimes
express that office by the very same word as that by which they
denote a father in the full parental sense ! Take the Latin.
I place a remarkable example of pater, in its secondary signifi-
cation, in the notes ; extracted from a sermon in which
St. Gaudentius of Brescia introduces the name of his patron and
predecessor in that see, Philastrius, who, certainly, was not his
natural father.1 Does Dr. MacCarthy mean to intimate that
athair, the Irish for the male parent, is never used except to
signify an actual progenitor ? Like its equivalent in other
languages, is it not, for instance, applied to a priest ? My view
of the point being at least probable, why does Dr. MacCarthy
impugn it? And what, I am curious to divine, is his special
object in wishing, so strenuously, to give Bishop O'Coffey a son ?
At page 104 I said : — ' Public confession is alluded to in some
of our ancient canons ;' and to this statement I attached a reference
to the Penitentials published by Wasserschleben. It appears in
the foot-notes as follows : — Arreum anni triduanus in ecclesia
sine cibo et potu et somno et vestitu sine sede et canticum psalmorutn
cum canticis et oratione horarum et in eis XII. geniculationes post
confessionem peccatorum coram sacerdote et plebe post votum.
This passage I produced for the sake only of the concluding
portion, which establishes what 1 affirmed. Dr. MacCarthy
1 ' Quonam ergo haec spectat tractatio ? Nempe ut vestra dilectio evi-
denter intelligat, quanta vis meara compulerit parvitatem arduis obsecundare
prseceptis, atque aperire os meum sub tantorum prsesentia sacerdotum, &
inaxime post illam venerandse memoriae p-itris mei (italics mine) Philastrii
eruditissimam vocem,' etc. See Sancti Gandenlii Brixice Epitcopi Sermonet,
pp. 158-159: Augsburg, 1757.
2 ' AcAij\, gen., ACAJ\, a father, a general title by which the clergy are
addressed in Ireland.' See O'Donovan, Supplement to 0'Reilly'& Irish-English
Dictionary, s. v. : Dublin, 1864.
84 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
now entertains himself with a gratuitous criticism of the ancient
Arrea or Commutations themselves. ' Triduanns,' he says, ' is a
vox nihili in this case ; ' and he substitutes triduum from another
copy, a Paris codex. Triduanus is simply a scribal corruption of
triduana, a three days' fast.1 He then goes into what he takes
to be conveyed by the entire passage — a matter not dwelt upon
by me at all. From sine vestitu he conceives that a year's
penance was to be commuted by standing three days in a church
without clothing, and says : — ' One has heard of gods and
goddesses standing naked in the open air; but to read of
Christian men and women in that condition in a church some-
what strains one's trust in the informant.' That informant,
however, is neither myself nor the Arreum: it is Dr. MacCarthy's
own imagination. I see, like Lowell's ' John P. Robinson he,'
that they don't ' know everything down in Judee.' A little light
may be advantageously let in on the subject. In the document
quoted, sine vestitu no more means naked than plain nudi itself
does, which, let me inform Dr, MacCarthy, is to be sometimes met
in ancient decrees of penance.2 It only implies — not in the
ordinary array. In what condition then ? The public penitent
might be (1) either partially stripped, of which we have instances,
or (2) clad in a penitential vesture. This last is what is conveyed
by the Paris version of the Commutations, which reads that he
was to stand in the church cum vestimento circa se. Now, from
the words cum vestimento circa se, meaning that the penitent
was to stand in the house of God with a garment around him, I
might just as well foolishly gather that when he was not in the
church, or was about his daily avocations, he wore nothing at all,
as Dr. MacCarthy that he was entirely naked, or, at least, is
rDucange exemplifies triduana (tridui jejunium") from St. Jerome. See
his Olotsariinn Media; it InfimcK Latliiitatis, viii., p. 182: Niort, 1883-87.
Biduano, from bidnanus, a similar barbarism for biduana, is found in the
ft 'modus AgiiHonalit Eritanniae in Wasserchleben, fhe Bussordnungcn der abend-
landischfn Kirche, p. 103: Halle, 1851.
1 Carpentier, in his Supplement to Ducange, gives the following from an
episcopal document dated 1224 : — ' Robertus et Herveus publicam Pcenitentiam
fuciant nudi (italics mine) et discalciati, virgas in manibus portantes ad pro-
ressionem in ecclesia Carnotensi in instant! Ascensione Domini, et per manum
episcopi Carnotensis vel sacerdotis, secundum consuetudinam ecclesise accipiant
discipfinam,' etc. It is plain, however, from another decree which he quotes,
containing the words dincalciati et nudi, braccis tanttt»i»ir>Jo retmtis, that public
penitents were not absolutely naked, and that tnidi, wherever it appears alone,
is to be interpreted with a modification. See Ducang.-, (Jlostarinin M
Infinite Latinitatis, vi., p. 384: Niort, 1883-87.
CORRESPONDENCE 85
represented as entirely naked, in the sacred edifice, because it
is stated in the other copy of the Arreum that the penitent was
to appear there sine vestitu. Both expressions amount to
the same thing— divested of his customary raiment and in
penitential garb.
Following the above, exception is taken to my manner of
dealing with the Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal.
It exhibits, I am told, my ' textual recension and grammatical
knowledge.' Here is the entire passage referred to, agreeing,
to a comma, with Mabillon's printed text1 of the Missal in
question : — ' MEMENTO ETIAM DOMINE, & eorum nomina, qui nos
praecesserunt cum signo fidei & dormiunt in somno pacis. Com-
memoratio defunctorum. Ipsis & omnibus in Christo quiescentibus
locum refrigerii, lucis, & pacis ut indulgeas deprecamur, per
Christum dominum nostrum.' This I translate thus: — ' Eemem-
ber also, 0 Lord, the names of those who have gone before us
with the sign of faith, and sleep in the sleep of peace. [Com-
memoration of the Dead.] To these, and to all resting in Christ,
grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and peace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.'
As verbs of remembering and forgetting sometimes take an
accusative case,2 Dr. MacCarthy can hardly object to my render-
ing Memento nomina, ' remember the names,' on the mere score
of grammar. But he pronounces nomina a rubric. Well, the
great Benedictine Mabillon, who edited the Bobbio Missal, was
as learned a rubricist as Dr. MacCarthy, and evidently he did not
consider nomina a rubric in this case. His punctuation, to be
seen above, is against any supposition that he did : besides, we
have the fact that he in no way distinguishes the word nomina,
or marks it out from the text by either italics or brackets. The
real rubric is at the end of the sentence, i.e., Commemoratio
defunctorum. This, and this alone, he italicizes. To him, more-
over, all the recensional details belong. I am satisfied to have
a Mabillon on my side, and a Dr. MacCarthy against me.
My rendering of Quorum meritis precibusque concedas ut in
omnibus protectionis tuae muniamur auxilio per Christum Dominum
nostrum, ' To whose merits and prayers grant that we may be
1 Mabillon, Museum Italicum, i., pt ii., p. 281 ; Paris, 1724.
2 On such a point it is superfluous to quote an authority ; nevertheless, see
Donaldson, Complete Latin Grammar, p, 279: Cambridge, 1867; also additional
examples, in Andrews, Latin Lexicon, s. v. memitii ; London, 1375.
86 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
defended with the help of Thy protection in all things, through
Christ our Lord,' is then carped at. ' To whose merits and
prayers/ it is said, should be ' By whose merits and prayers.'
Well, in point of Latin grammar, it might be either. In point of
the sense, too, it might be either. But if there is any superiority
as between the two versions, mine, if I mistake not, has it. The
protection asked for is granted us by God, and to the merits and
prayers of the saints. To their merits and prayers means — in
consideration of them.
In ' Sunday within the Octave of Easter,' the word ' within '
(p. 220) crept in inadvertently.
Dr. MacCarthy criticises me for saying : ' The mode of com-
puting Easter is an astronomical . . . question.' He might as
well have quoted me in full, and given the three words which he
represents by three dots. What I said (p. 41) was this : ' The
mode of computing Easter is an astronomical, not a theological
question.' He adduces Ideler to tell me that Easter is computed
by cycles, as if I had never mentioned such things. At p. 42 I
say, speaking of the variation of the old Irish Easter from the
Eoman : ' It was occasioned by using different cycles ; the Celtic
and British Churches calculating the paschal date by a discarded
system — the cycle of 84 years— while Rome, and the Christian
world in general, proceeded by a cycle of 19 years, which was
more astronomically correct.'!
Does Dr. MacCarthy hold that astronomy has nothing what-
ever to do with Easter, as he finds fault with my characterisation
of the question ? Dr. Lingard agrees with me. He says : ' The
time of Easter was not a theological question ; it could be solved
only by astronomical calculation.' ] Dr. Lanigan, too, says : ' It
was a dispute of mere astronomical calculation, similar to that
between the abettors of the Gregorian, or new style, and those of
the old one. Neither faith nor morals were in any wise connected
with it.' 3
There are one or two other points in Dr. MacCarthy's
criticism upon which I might say something ; but this letter is,
perhaps, already too long. For the present, then, I must post-
pone my observations.
1 Lingard, History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, L, p. 381 :
London, 1845.
2 Lanigan, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, iii., p. 67: Dublin, 1829.
CORRESPONDENCE 87
In conclusion, and to place facts in their legitimate light, I am
not the aggressor in this controversy. My book was undertaken in
response to numerically strong and influential solicitation ; and I
have never, in my experience, heard of a work, written in defence
of Catholic truth, that was assailed, on such trivial grounds, by
a Catholic priest before. Eeliable authorities among the clergy
have been pleased to say, since this correspondence began,
that my small volume fills a void for which even the learned
Dr. MacCarthy, in his life-long literary labours, has made no
provision. — Yours, &c
JOHN SALMON.
[ 88 ]
DOCUMENTS
LEO XIII. TO GOD AND THE VIRGIN MOTHER
DEO ET VIRGINI MATEI
EXTBEMA LEONIS VOTA
Extremum radiat, pallenti involvitur umbra
lam iam sol moriens ; nox subit atra. Leo,
Atra tibi : arescunt venae, nee vividus humor
Perfluit ; exhausto corpore vita perit.
Mors telum fatale iacit ; velamine amicta
Funereo, gelidus contegit ossa lapis.
Ast anima aufugiens excussis libera vinclis,
Continue aethereas ardet anhela plagas ;
Hue celerat cursum ; longarum haec meta viarum
Expleat oh clemens anxia vota Deus !
Oh caelum attingam ! supremo munere detur
Divino aeternum lumine et ore frui.
Teque, o Virgo frui ; rnatrem te parvulus infans
Dilexi, flagrans in sene crevit amor.
Excipe me caelo ; caeli de civibus unus,
Auspice te, dicam, praemia tanta tuli.
LEO PP, XIII.
[ 89 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CARDINAL WISEMAN. By Wilfrid
Ward. London : Longmans, Green & Co, Two Vols.
As a full review of this work is being written for the
February number of the I. E. RECORD, by the Rev. William
Barry, D.D., we need not do more at present than to express the
very great satisfaction with which we have read every page of the
two volumes. For Catholic readers, no more fascinating work has
issued from the press for many a year. The biography of the great
Cardinal could not have been entrusted to abler hands. Men might
have been found to write the Life of Wiseman, who could do justice
to him as an ecclesiastical ruler and prince of the Church, but who
would be incapable of appreciating other aspects of his character,
his proficiency in oriental studies, his deep theological knowledge,
his interest in archaeology, in art, in science, in literature, his
intercourse with men of distinction at home, and abroad, his wide
range of sympathies and broad views on all matters that stirred
the passions and the interest of his cotemporaries. Mr. Ward
seems as much at home in dealing with one phase of the
Cardinal's life as with another. He embraces them all in these
two volumes ; and, we think, we could not recommend to our
readers a more enjoyable occupation during their leisure hours of
the new year than the perusal of a work which brings -out in such
striking relief the noble figure of the man who fought the battle
of the Church in England at one of the turning-points of its
existence. We can also promise those who read the biography
that their admiration will not be confined to Cardinal Wiseman,
but that, in its own measure, it will extend as unreservedly to
Mr. Ward. J. F. H.
THE IRISH DIFFICULTY, SHALL AND WILL. By Gerald
Molloy, D.D., D. Sc. London, Glasgow, and Dublin :
Blackie and Son.
As the greater part of this work has already appeared in the
pages of the I. E. EECOBD, it needs no introduction to our
readers. The proper use of ' shall and will ' has exercised the
minds of English grammarians since English grammars were
90 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
invented ; but, as Dr. Molloy justly remarks, there was no book
in which the subject was treated with any approach to complete-
Bess. This can certainly be said no longer ; and we are much
mistaken if Dr. Molloy 's interesting volume does not remain for
future ages a standard work on the subject not only for Irishmen
but for Englishmen as well. There are some people, it appears,
who think that Irishmen have no difficulty in the employment
of these auxiliaries. We imagine that these are just the people
who would profit by a careful perusal of the volume before us.
Their public utterances might gain something by the study in
correctness if not in elegance of diction. Again, we are told
that Dr. Molloy's elaborate treatment of the subject tends to
confuse the minds of those who endeavour to get at the root
and cause of the difficulty. Such people are, it must be
admitted, rather easily confused, and we fancy that Dr. Molloy
will not be greatly surprised at their trouble. Anyone who
reads the work in a spirit that is not captious, even though
the author were entirely unknown, should admit that it is the
production of an accomplished scholar. In precision and correct-
ness of expression, as well as in the elegant and dignified
manner in which the author deals with a subject so dry we
have a fine example of literary refinement. A careful perusal
of the numerous quotations from the best authors will of itself
be an admirable help to all except to those who are above such
aid. How far the latter can afford to dispense with Dr. Molloy's
assistance their readers are possibly better judges than they are
themselves.
We are happy to think that this is not the only work of
the learned Eector of the Catholic University which first
appeared in instalments in the pages of the I, B. EECOBD.
Nobody, of course, will think of comparing a study which
has been only one form of literary recreation indulged in
persistently for many years with the important volume on
Geology and Revelation which first appeared in the pages of
the I. E. KECOBD, and made Mgr. Molloy's name known and
honoured in the schools of many countries besides Ireland.
We are, nevertheless, thankful for the fruits of grammatical
investigation as for the earlier and more precious fruits of
scientific and theological study ; and we are convinced that our
readers at home and abroad will ever welcome anything that
comes from one whom they have so many reasons to honour and
revere. J. F. H.
NOTICES OF BOOKS 91
BIBLIA SACEA JUXTA VULGATAE EXEMPLAEIA ET COEEEC-
TOEIA EOMANA DENUO E DIBIT, DIVISIONIBUS LOGICIS
ANALYSIQUE CONTINUA SENSUM ILLUSTRANTIBUS OENAVIT
A. C. FILLION. Paris : Letouzey, Ane & Cie.
WE have given the title of this work in full, because it
indicates at once the scope and method of Professor Pillion in
preparing this edition of the Latin Vulgate. Each of the sacred
books is divided into parts, sections and paragraphs, in accordance
with what Professor Fillion, after consulting the best commen-
tators, considers to be the logical division of the book. Thus,
to take as an example the Gospel of St. Matthew, the book is
divided into an introduction and four parts. The genealogy of
our Lord constitutes the introduction (i. 1-17) ; the first part
deals with the infancy and private life (i. 18-ii. 23) ; the second,
with the public life (iii. 1-xx. 34) ; the third, with the last days
of Jesus, or week of the Passion (xxi. 1-xxvii. 66) ; the fourth,
with our Lord's resurrection (xxviii. 1-20). Each of these
divisions is so clearly marked that the reader cannot fail to per-
ceive at once the broad outlines of the Gospel history, Then the
parts are subdivided into various sections, and these again into
well-defined paragraphs, with a marginal indication of at least
the pith of each paragraph.
No one can fail to see how much better, at least for the ordinary
student, this arrangement is than that usually adopted in
editions of the Vulgate. The summaries usually given at the
heads of chapters are often jejune, and generally of small utility,
while the bold division into chapters instead of sections frequently
breaks the continuity and mars the sense. We are glad also
to see that Fr. "Fillion discards the mischievous practice of
beginning each verse with a new line, as is the case in the
ordinary editions of the Vulgate, as well as in our Catholic
English Version. If only the recognised numbering of the verses
is retained, such a practice is wholly unnecessary, while it
undoubtedly tends frequently to obscure the logical connection.
In the poetical books and parts the verses are so printed by
Fr. Fillion as to exhibit at once the Hebrew parallelism, the
most distinctive feature of Hebrew poetry.
The labour involved in preparing an edition of the Vulgate like
that before us, is much greater than might appear at first sight.
A careful analysis of every book of the Bible implies much
study and thought, and we are sincerely glad to find that Father
92 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Fillion's labour has beeii appreciated. The present is the fourth
edition in ten years.
It goes without saying that there is room for much difference
of opinion as to the propriety of some of the paragraphic
divisions ; but in no case, as far as we have been able to see, is
any division adopted that is not supported by good authority.
Occasionally, as, for example, in the twenty-fourth chapter of
St. Matthew, one might fairly expect in the margin a clearer
indication of the editor's views ; but, on the whole, the work is
well and conscientiously done, and will help much to a better
understanding of God's inspired word. J. M'K.
A GENEBA.L INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HOLY
SCRIPTURE. By A. E. Breen, D.D.
THIS is an important contribution from the New World to
Catholic Biblical literature. The author, Dr. Breen, is Professor
of Sacred Scripture in St. Bernard's Seminary, Eochester, New
York. The work is a royal octavo volume of 606 pages ; and, with
the exception of Biblical antiquities, which are not mentioned,
discusses the various subjects that we should expect to find dealt
with in a General Introduction. The nature and extent of
inspiration, the question of the Canon of the Old and New Testa-
ment, the history of the original texts and of the various ancient
versions of the Bible, the origin and authority of the Vulgate,
the history of modern English versions, the various senses of
Scripture, and how to find them — all these questions are discussed
fully, fairly, and reverently, yet with an American independence
that does credit to the honesty and judgment of the author.
The treatment of the Canon is particularly full ; but consider-
ing that the work is intended for a class-book, it would have been
much better, in our judgment, if the author had contented
himself with summarizing results regarding the Canon, and
published the extended treatment of the subject, with the nume-
rous quotations, in a separate volume. In a work of 606 pages
we should hardly expect to find 340 pages devoted to this one
subject, especially if the work is to serve as a class-book.
On page 33, in the treatment of the question of Obiter Dicta,
there is some confusion, to which we feel it our duty to call
attention . The author raises two questions — 1 . Whether Obiter
Dicta are inspired. 2. Whether it is of faith kthat they are
inspired. The first question he rightly answers in the affirma-
NOTICES OF BOOKS 93
tive ; but when he comes to discuss the second question, strangely
enough, it is the first question he raises again, and again he
answers in the affirmative. Had he really dealt with the second
question — that is, whether the inspiration of Obiter Dicta is
of faith— the whole context and the authorities he quotes
approvingly, force us to believe that he would have answered
iu the negative.
We cannot agree with the author that ' the Deuterocanonical
books of the Old Testament primarily existed in the collection
of the Jews of Palestine/ If they did, why were they afterwards
excluded ? It cannot have been on account of their Messianic
character, for it has been truly said that a single psalm often
contains as much that is Messianic as all the Deuterocanonical
books taken together. In the chapter on English Versions we
are surprised to find that no mention is made of the two Catholic
translations of the New Testament, by Drs. Nary and Witham
respectively. The former was published in London, in 1705, and
the latter at Douay, in 1730, as may be seen by a reference to
Dr. Dixon's General Introduction. We trust these omissions
will be supplied in a second edition, for our Catholic English
translations are so few that we can ill afford to pass by
any of them unnoticed.
Naturally so large a work is not entirely free from slips and
misprints, but those that occur are of trifling importance. Thus,
in the note on p. 55, the Apostolic Constitutions are referred to
the second century, while from the note on p. 122 it might be
supposed that the author is doubtful whether they are earlier
than the third century. It is, of course, owing to an oversight
that the Prologus Galeatus, or helmeted prologue of St. Jerome,
is spoken of, in p. 145, as the Prologus Galeaticus.
Notwithstanding the points to which we have thought it right
to direct attention, we welcome the work as one of considerable
value, the result of much conscientious labour, and a decided
boon to Catholic students.
J. M'R.
THE LIFE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, BISHOP AND DOCTOE. A
Historical Study. By Philip Burton, C.M. Third and
enlarged edition. Dublin : M. H. Gill & Son. 5s.
TEN years have now elapsed since this ' Historical Study '
first appeared. In the meantime it has had a large circulation,
94 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and has engaged a large share of public patronage. Two editions
having been exhausted, the author has, with commendable zeal,
undertaken and accomplished the onerous task of bringing out
a new and enlarged edition to meet the demands of an ever-
growing circle of readers. A work that has been accorded
so signal a mark of general approbation scarcely needs any
critical notice, so that we feel we shall best do our duty in
emphasizing its claims to a still warmer reception at the hands
of an admiring public.
St. Augustine's personality has a distinct and decided charm
peculiarly its own. The study of his varied and versatile career
appeals to us with an almost fascinating interest. With varying
feelings we follow him through the strange vicissitudes of his
strange life : from innocent childhood to sinful boyhood ; and,
again, from a boyhood steeped in degrading excesses to a
manhood elevated by faith and ennobled by virtue. In its way,
nothing can be more interesting than to read how the erring
youth became the brightest ornament of the Church, the
greatest of her doctors, and the most vigorous defender of her
doctrines. From the back-ground of the early fathers,
St. Augustine stands forth in high relief, first and foremost
of that noble band, unsurpassed in the penetrating subtilty of his
genius, and unrivalled hi the fervour and glow of his faith. In
portraying, then, such a subject our author has found a theme
worthy of his powerful pen. And it is but paying him a well-
deserved compliment to say that he has acquitted himself in a
manner eminently successful. He brings to the accomplishment
of his design a ripe scholarship, a sound and impartial judgment,
and a deep research, calculated to render his biography thoroughly
appeciative. Not only has he a mind well stored with the
details of St. Augustine's life, and well informed by personal
observation, as to all its manifold surroundings ; but he has also
a keen insight into the history of the age in which the saint
played so prominent a part, a mastery of the nature of the
heresies he had to combat, and a grasp of the spirit that ruled
in the early African Church. On the face of it, Father Burton's
volume bears evidence that it is the outcome of a philosophic
mind. He weighs his facts carefully, but he does not forget
to put their circumstances into the scales also. Perhaps the
most characteristic feature of the biography is the intimate
knowledge which Father Burton displays of the voluminous
NOTICES OF BOOKS 95
writings of St. Augustine. The number and aptness of quotations
given lead us to believe that he must have made a life-long
study of these beautiful works. And here we may invite atten-
tion to the rules he lays down (pp. 330, 331) for correctly
interpreting the great Doctor. If these rules were observed many
of the gross misrepresentations of St. Augustine's views and
writings would be effectively obviated. In an additional chapter,
which has not appeared in the earlier editions, the author
criticizes St. Augustine's views on the Bible. To many this
will not be the least interesting portion of his readable book.
We are grateful to Father Burton for supplying us with such
a charmingly written biography of a saint that holds a high
place in all Christian hearts, and we wish his book a still larger
share of popularity than it has yet secured.
P.M.
THE FIKST CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE GREAT MOGUL. Or
The Story of Blessed Acquaviva and his Companions in
Martyrdom of the Society of Jesus. By James Goldie, S. J.
Dublin: M. H. Gill & Co. London: Art and Book
Company.
WHILE the Spanish conquests in America opened a way for the
introduction of Christianity into the New World, the arms of
Portugal in the Indian Peninsula afforded a means for the
evangelization of that benighted land. Under King John III.
of Portugal, St. Francis Xavier preached the Gospel to the
Indians, and all Europe rejoiced in the marvellous success that
attended his labours. When the grave closed over the remains
of that glorious missionary, his apostolic spirit still lingered in
the breasts of many of his brothers in religion, aud there were
several members of the great society to which he belonged,
whose one great desire and ambition in life was to convert the
heathen or win a martyr's crown in the attempt. Accordingly,
in the sixteenth century missionary volunteers were numerous.
Scarcely a ship left the southern ports bound for India that did
not include among its passengers some few souls whose mission
was to illumine those that sit in the darkness of unbelief. To
such a class belonged the Blessed Acquaviva and his four
martyred companions, whose history is graphically described in
these pages under notice. Descended, nearly all of them, from
96 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the very first families of Italy, they renounced the world for the
seclusion of the Society of Jesus, and, burning with a thirst to
win souls from infidelity to God, they became missionaries, a
district in India being appointed them as the seat of their opera-
tions. With what zeal they worked in this vast vineyard ; with
what fearless intrepedity the Blessed Acquaviva penetrated into
the heart of the mighty empire, and even to the court of the
Great Mogul ; how the five were appointed to a dangerous
position in Salsette; and how, in fine, they were here brutally
murdered by the fanatic Brahmins, we leave our readers to
glean from the very beautiful and pathetic narrative of
Mr. Go! die. The cause for the martyrdom of these five
missionaries was pleaded as early as 1598, but it was early
in 1893 that the process was completed, when the Congregation
decreed the beatification might take place.
A word of thanks is due to the writer of this instructive
history for preserving these honoured names from oblivion, and
to the publishers for the neatness and taste displayed in the
bringing out of the book.
P. M.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN
M
Y purpose — at least my main purpose — in selecting
this subject for my address this evening is to
create and foster in the minds of the students
of this college a deep and abiding love for the
historic sites and ancient monuments of our native land.
In the highest sense of the words, you are the heirs, and
you ought to be, as it were, ex officio the custodians, of the
historic monuments of the Gael. It would be strange,
indeed, if the British Parliament should deem it its duty to
preserve many of these monuments at the public expense,
and that an Irish priest should be either ignorant of their
history, or show himself indifferent to their defacement or
destruction. No man can do more than a priest to aid in
their preservation, and every sentiment of genuine patriot-
ism, of national honour, and even of professional zeal,
should move him to aid in the noble work of illustrating
the history and guarding the integrity of these ancient
monuments, which are at once eloquent witnesses of our
vanished glories in the past, and hopeful emblems of a
higher national life in the not distant future.
Now, my young friends, of all the historic sites in
Ireland, there is no other that can at all approach the Hill of
1 Lecture delivered to the students of Maynooth College, Nov. 25, 1897.
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III. — FEBRUARY, 1898. G
98 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Tara, either in antiquity, in historic interest, or in the variety
and suggestive significance of its ancient monuments. If we
are to accept, even in substance, the truth of the bardic
history of Ireland — and I see no good reason to question its
substantial truth — there was a royal residence on the Hill
of Tara before Rome was founded, before Athena's earliest
shrine crowned the Acropolis of Athens ; about the time,
perhaps, that sacred Ilium first saw the hostile standards
of the kings of Hellas. But before I sketch the history of
the Royal Hill, I must first tell you something of its
physical features, which alone have remained, through all
the changeful centuries, unchanged and unchangeable.
I. PHYSICAL ASPECTS
Tara is not a high hill, its elevation above the sea being
only about five hundred feet. It is rather broad and flat-
topped, with gently sloping declivities. Still it commands
a far-reaching prospect of surpassing beauty. On the north-
east the hill of Skeen rises to the sky-line, and shuts out a
wider view of the swelling plains beyond ; but on every
other side the prospect from Tara, of a fine summer's day,
is one of enchanting loveliness. Nearly the whole of the
great limestone plain of Ireland lies in view, with all its
varied scenery of grassy plain, and deep embowering woods,
and noble mansions peeping through their sheltering foliage.
Then there are the towers of Trim, and the silvery wind-
ings of the Boyne, stealing, serpent-like, through sunlit
meadows, with glimpses of the hoary walls of Bective and
Columcille's ancient shrine, whose sweet-toned bells once
tolled across the fertile fields and populous villages, where
herds of cattle now roam in what is almost a primitive,
though still a rich and grassy wilderness. Then, far away
to the south-east, the Wicklow mountains rise up like giant
ramparts against the blue of the sunlit sky. The smoke of
Dublin shrouds its spires in the distance. Beyond Dnndalk
the hills around Cuchullin's ancient home are distinctly
visible. To the north and north-west the peaks of Cavan
and Monaghan are well defined against the sky, while to
the south and south-west the isolated hills of the great
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 99
plain rise in solitary grandeur, with the immense range of
Slieve Bloom on the southern horizon, which the men of
old regarded as nature's barrier between the Hy-Niall and
the warriors of Leagh Mogha. It is difficult to get any-
where else in Ireland, except, perhaps, from the Hill of
Usnach, in Westmeath, and that is somewhat similar, a
prospect to equal the view from Tara Hill in extent, in
variety, in picturesque beauty, and historic interest. You
may get grander and wilder scenes, but nothing more attrac-
tive to the eye, or more suggestive to the mind, than the
matchless landscape revealed from the summit of Tara
Hill.
It is no wonder, then, that the fertility of the soil, and
the beauty of the prospect from Tara Hill, attracted the
attention of even the earliest colonists in Ireland. These
ancient men of barbarous times, in one thing, at least,
showed far more taste and judgment than the cultured
people of this nineteenth century. They chose for their
dwellings and strongholds the breezy summits of fertile
hills, which at once gave them health and security, and
above all a far-reaching vision of picturesque grandeur.
No doubt it was necessary for them to see the country far
around them, so as to be able to notice the approach of the
foe, and take measures for their own defence in unsettled
times. But I think there was something else in their minds
besides this idea of self-defence. They appreciated, in their
own simple way, the manifold beauties of their island -home ;
they loved to see them and enjoy them ; and the vision
gave them loftier thoughts and bolder hearts. They would
not dream — no, not the smallest Irish chief — of building
his dun in a swampy plain or secluded valley. You will not
see, in any part of the country, an ancient rath occupying
such a site. No ; they were in their own land, and they
built their homes on the windy crests of the swelling
uplands, where they could see their wide domains, their
flocks and herds, the approach of the foe, and the
gathering of the warriors to defend their hearths and
homes.
100 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
II. HISTORY OF TAKA HILL
Of the colonists that came to stay in the land, the
Firbolgs were the earliest ; and the bards tells us that Slainge,
the first high king of that race, chose Tara Hill as the site of
his royal palace,1 and called it Druim Caein or the Beautiful
Hill. If we can trust the chronology of the Four Masters,
Slainge was contemporary with Abraham in the Land of
Canaan : so that we must go back some nineteen hundred
years before the Christian era for the first dun that crowned
the Eoyal Hill. I do not ask you to believe this. I
merely quote the statement ; and it is probably as well
founded as a good deal of what is set down as ancient
history. 0 'Flaherty's chronology, however, which fixes the
advent of the Firbolgs about the year 1250 B.C. is far more
probable.
It is, however, to the second colony that occupied
Ireland — the Tuatha de Danann that the origin of the
Koyal City of Tara is more commonly traced. Nine kings
of the Firbolgs, it is said, ruled the land ; but as they reigned
in all only thirty-seven years, they could not have done
much for Tara. It was the new colony — a more civilized
and powerful people — who brought the ogham lore to Erin
and the Lia Fail to Tara, which they made — so the bardic
story tells us —their Cathair, or capital city. Stone-buildings
were certainly not abundant at Tara ; but still as it is called
a Cathair by the poet Kineth O'Hartigan, in the tenth
century, we need not hesitate to adopt the term.
Tara was called Cathair Crofinn even before it was
called Tara ; and Crofinn is said to have been a queen of
the Tuatha de Danann, remarkable both for her talents
and her beauty. Doubtless she was buried within the
precincts of the Royal Rath, to which she gave her name ; that
is, if she did not, like many others of her people, take up her
abode in the Land of Youth, either under the grassy slopes
of Tara, or some other of the beautiful enchanted hills
of Erin.
i Poem ascribed to Caoilte MacRonain.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 101
They were a strange people, these Tuatha de Danann,
dark-eyed and brown-haired, of unknown origin, but of much
culture, ingenuity, and weird mysterious power, who left no
survivors in the land of Erin, at least, amongst the children
of mortal men. Would they had not vanished so completely,
for the bardic story that tells of their advent and depar-
ture is full of a strange subtle interest which takes and
keeps the mind by a secret, silent influence that cannot
be measured or analysed. It pervades alike our history
and our romance, the tales of our childhood, and the
wanderings of our maturer fancy in mystic realms of a
fairyland that is not all a fable.
It was the Tuatha de Danann who brought to Tara that
wonderful Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny, of which you all
have heard something. Some say it is still in Tara, others
that it is under the Coronation Chair in Westminster
Abbey. I shall speak of it presently, but it is quite natural
that the enchanted stone should be the gift of the enchanted
people ; and its history — part fact and part fable — is as
strange and mysterious as their own.
So when the Milesian colony came to Erin, Tara,
though not yet called by that name, was already the chief
royal seat of the monarchy. Heremon was married to his
cousin, a beautiful and accomplished princess named Tea,
and she asked her lord, even before they landed, to give her
as her dower her choice hill in Erin, " that she might be
interred therein, and that her mound and grave-stone might
be raised thereon," and " where every prince to be born of
her race should dwell for ever." This favour was guaranteed
to her ; and then we are told that she chose Druim Caein,
called also Laeth-Druim, the Beautiful Hill, which from
her is called Tea-Mur, i. e., Tara, the Mound of Tea, and
therein she was interred- The Irish form was Tea-mur,
latinized Temora, which by a kind of metathesis has
become Tara in the genitive case. Other explanations of
the name have been also given ; but this is at once the most
ancient, the most natural, and the most poetic. The pillar
stone still standing on Tara Hill, over the Croppies' grave,
which Petrie thinks was the original Lia Fail, was in my
102 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
opinion the gravestone raised over Tea's monument more
than three thousand years ago. We know that such
monumental pillars, ' hoary inscrutable sentinels of the
past,' were raised elsewhere over royal graves, as at Rath-
croghan over the grave of King Dathi, and at Roscam, near
Galway, over the grave of King Brian, the great ancestor
of the Connaught kings ; and in some cases they came to be
worshipped as idols. So Tea's pillar-stone was raised at
Tara over her mur or grave mound, from which it was
removed after 1798, but only a few paces, to place over the
Croppies' grave, where the foolish insurgent youths made
their last vain stand. And still it stands through all the
changeful centuries, and the ashes of Tea's offspring, who
died for the land she loved, now rest in peace beneath its
shadow.
III. THE FEIS OF TAEA
One hundred and twenty kings of the Scotic or Milesian
race reigned in Erin from Heremon to the cursing and
desolation of Tara in A.D. 565 ; and it may be regarded as
fairly certain that all these high-kings kept their court (at
least for a time) on the Royal Hill. The history of Tara
would, in fact, during all this time, be the history of Ireland.
So we can only refer to a few of the most noteworthy events
in its annals specially connected with the place itself.
Ollarnh Fodhla, the fortieth in the list of Irish kings, after
a reign of forty years, died, we are told by the Four Masters,
' in his own house at Tara. He was the first king by whom
the Feis, or Assembly of Tara, was instituted ; and by him
also a Mur Ollamhan was erected at Tara.' The king's real
name was Eochy, the term Ollamh Fodhla, or Doctor of
Erin, being given to him as an agnomen on account of his
learning. There are not wanting critics who doubt of the
existence of this ancient king ; but the entry proves at least
one thing, that the ' Feis Tara ' was in popular estimation
of very ancient origin. Reference is frequently made to this
famous assembly in all our ancient literature, both sacred
and profane. It was, in fact, the national parliament of the
Celtic tribes in Ireland, and as such must have exercised a
very great influence on the national life. It was held trien-
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 103
nially for one week at Samhaintide, that is three days before
and three days after November Day. It is probable that in
fine weather the chiefs met in council on the green of Tara
in the open air ; but if the weather were inclement then the
meeting was held indoors, and most likely in the great ban-
quetting hall, which was the largest building in Tara. Its
object was to discuss all matters of national importance,
especially the enactment of new laws, the assessment of
tribute, the examination and purification of the national
annals, the settlement of tribal disputes, and the mainten-
ance of a militia for the preservation of the peace and the
protection of the nation. All broils between individuals or
factions during its sessions were punishable with death,
without the option of an eric, and it would seem that it
was forbidden to bear deadly weapons, or engage in martial
exercises, lest they might lead to strife amongst the
champions. The place of every king and chief was fixed by
the public heralds with the greatest exactness, and his arms
and shield hung above the head of the chieftain, but were not
worn in the hall. When the day's work was done the revels
were begun, the feasting and drinking being often prolonged
to a late hour of the night ; and they sometimes found it con-
venient to sleep beneath the couches on which they sat.
The next famous reign in connection with the history of
Tara is that of Tuathal Teachtmar. In connection with
Tara his most important proceeding was to take a portion
from each of the old provinces to form a mensal kingdom
for the high-king. These united together formed the new
province of Meath, which henceforth was reserved for the
maintenance of the royal court and royal levies of the high-
king. The ancient Feis of Tara was preserved ; but Tuathal
directed that yearly assemblies should be held in each
of the four parts of his dominions taken from the other pro-
vinces. So he ordained that at Tlachta, near Athboy, a
religious festival should be held at Beltane; that a great fair
should be held at Usnach about mid-summer; and that a
marriage-market, with sports and games, should be estab-
lished at Taillteann on the first Sunday of August, called in
consequence Lugnasa ; but this latter was probably of far
104 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
earlier origin. He also required an oath from the kings and
chiefs assembled at the Feis Tara, that they would be loyal to
his house for ever, and never set up a king from the Attacots,
or even from any rival house. These were all just and wise
regulations, which tended to concentrate and consolidate
the royal authority over the whole nation in a single royal
family — a thing greatly needed and much to be desired in
Erin. But he was also partly responsible for another insti-
tution, which caused much bloodshed in Tara and much
strife in Erin for many centuries, and contributed long after-
wards, at least indirectly, to bring it under foreign domina-
tion. This was the establishment of the celebrated
Borrumean Tribute.
IV. ORIGIN OF THE BORRUMEAN TRIBUTE
It arose in this way. Tuathal had two daughters ' more
beautiful than the clouds of heaven,' The King of Leinster
sought the eldest in marriage, and obtained his request ; but
after a while he heard that the younger was the more beauti-
ful. So he sent a false message to Tara, saying that the
elder sister had died, and that he now wished to marry her
younger sister. This request was also granted ; but after a
little the two sisters happened to meet face to face in the
dun of Naas. Then the eldest, heart-broken at the deceit
practised against herself and her sister, died of shame, and
the younger shortly afterwards died of grief at the cruel fate
of her unhappy sister.
Word of these proceedings was soon brought to Tara,
and to the kings of Ulster and Connaught, who were the
foster-fathers of the maidens in question. A great army
was raised; Leinster was harried with fire and sword; the
wicked king was slain; and its princes and people were
required to pay annually a tax of 1,500 sheep, 1,500 pig?,
1,500 kine, with many other things also ; amongst the rest,
a brazen boiler large enough to boil twelve oxen and twelve
pigs at one go for the hosts of Tara. For more than five
hundred years this oppressive tax was the cause of con-
tinuous bloodshed. It was often levied, but never without
a fight ; it was oftener successfully resisted, but always
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 105
caused hatred, strife, and slaughter between the two king-
doms until its final remission through the prayers and
diplomacy of St. Moling. One enduring effect it produced
was a great estrangement between the men of Leinster and
Conn's Half, which was not without its influence in induc-
ing the Lagenians to side with the Danes at Clontarf, and
at a later date in moving false Diarmaid MacMurrough to
bring in the Norman, in order to be revenged on his own
countrymen. Such are the far-reaching consequences of
public crime and injustice.
V. COEMAC MAC ART
One hundred and twenty years later the majestic figure
of Cormac Mac Art is seen on Tara Hill ; and Tara never saw
another king like him — neither his grandsire Conn, nor
Niall of the Hostages, nor any other pagan monarch of
Ireland. If he had an equal at all it was Brian Boru, who
may justly be regarded as the greatest of the Christian kings
of Erin, even as Cormac was of the pagan kings. The
monuments of Tara especially were the creation and the
glory of Cormac. Most of its monuments were erected or
restored by him; he appears as the central figure in its
history, the hero of its romantic tales, the guardian of its
glories, and the champion of its prerogatives. For forty
years he reigned in Tara ; he drank delight of battle with
his peers in a hundred fights; but he was not only king but a
sage, a scholar, and lawgiver, whose works, at least in outline,
have come to our own times, and have challenged the
admiration of all succeeding ages. When he came to die he
refused to be laid with his pagan sires in Brugh, but told
them to bury him at Rosnaree, with his face to the rising
sun, that the light from the east just dawning in his soul
might one day light up with its heavenly radiance the gloom
of his lonely grave.
Cormac appears first of all as a historian and chronicler.
He it was who assembled the chroniclers of Ireland, at
Tara, say the Four Masters, ' and ordered them to unite
the chronicles of Ireland in one book called the Psalter of
Tara.' That great work is no longer in existence; but
Cuan O'Lochan, a poet of the tenth century, gives us a
106 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
summary of its contents, which would lead us to infer that
the Psalter of Tara was somewhat like the Psalter of
Caskel, the contents of which are embodied in the Book of
Rights. As a lawgiver, Cormac may be regarded as the
original author of the great compilation known as the
Senchus Mor, of course not in its present form ; but he laid
the foundations on which that immense superstructure was
afterwards erected. And it is not improbable that in the
text, as distinguished from the commentary of the older
work, we have many of the legal dicta uttered, if not
penned, by Cormac himself.
The learned work known as Teigasc na Eiogli has also
been attributed to Cormac by our antiquaries, who say that
he composed it for the instruction of his son and successor,
Cairbre, when he himself was incapacitated to reign from the
loss of one of his eyes. He was equally renowned as a
warrior, and broke fifty battles against his foes, north,
south, east, and west. He was the great patron of Finn
MacCumhal and his warrior band, who really composed his
staff and standing army ; and to secure the friendship of that
great warrior Finn, Cormac gave him his daughter Graine
in marriage. The lady, however, was by no means faithful
to her liege lord, and her elopement and wanderings with
Diarmaid formed the theme of many a song. Cormac was
also a great builder. He erected the rath, which still bears
his name at Tara; he restored and enlarged the great
banquet hall ; he erected for his handmaiden Carnaid,
the first mill known in Ireland, and thus made Tara the
great capital of all the land — the centre of its strength, its
power, its grandeur, and its civilization. An ancient writer
has preserved a picture of Cormac presiding at the feis of
Tara, which we have no reason to think exaggerated.1 He
describes Tara as a beautiful sunny city of feasts, of goblets,
of springs, as a world of perishable beauty, the meeting-
place of heroes, with twice seven doors and nine mounds
around it, a famous strong cathair, the great house of a
thousand soldiers, lit up with seven splendid, beautiful
chandeliers of brass. Cormac himself sat at the head of all
1 Kenneth 0' Hartigan.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 107
the princes of Erin, clothed in a crimson mantle, with brooch
of gold, a golden belt about his loins, splendid shining
sandals on his feet, a great twisted collar of red gold
around his neck. We might well doubt the accuracy of this
description, but that the twisted collars of gold have been
found at Tara, and a golden brooch of exquisite workman-
ship, with many other ornaments -not far off. Cormac was
a Connaught-inan ; at least, his mother was a Connaught-
woman ; and he himself was born and nurtured under the
shadow of Kesh Corran, in the county of Sligo.
VI. ST. PATKICK AT TAB A
Cormac was the link connecting Pagan and Christian
Ireland. The next scene on the Hill of Tara brings the two
religions face to face in the person of St. Patrick and the
Druids of King Laeghaire. My description of this meeting
must be very brief, yet it was the most momentous event
that ever took place in the history of Ireland, for it was a
struggle to the death between the old religion and the new.
Here let me observe that Druidism was not an immoral
and debasing superstition, such, for instance as now may be
seen in many parts of Africa. It taught the immortality, or
at least the transmigration, of souls, it inculcated the necessity
of many natural virtues; and, though it was idolatrous and
tolerant of fratricidal strife, its very superstitions were
romantic, for it deified all nature. Hence the cult, as a whole,
was very dear to the hearts of our Celtic forefathers, and
was closely interwoven with their national life. As McGee
has well said of the Druids : —
Their mystic creed was woven round
The changeful year — for every hour
A spirit and a sense they found
A cause of piety and power,
The crystal wells were spirit springs,
The mountain lakes were peopled under,
And in the grass the fairy rings
Excelled rustic awe and wonder.
Far down beneath the western sea
Their Paradise of youth was laid,
In every oak and hazel tree
They saw a fair immortal maid, —
Such was the chain of hopes and fears
That bound our sires a thousand years.
108 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The battle then between Patrick and the Druids was a
battle to the death; and the saint could not conquer without
visible help from on high. There are critics that accept the
natural but reject the supernatural facts in the narrative.
The testimony for both is precisely the same ; so their
proceeding is extremely foolish; That Patrick could con-
quer the Druids on Tara Hill without a miracle, would,
in my judgment, be a stranger thing than any miracle he
wrought there.
It was Easter Sunday morning, A.D. 433. Laeghaire
with the remnant of his followers had returned at dawn of day
from his disastrous journey to Slane. He and his chiefs
and Druids were gathered together to take a meal they
needed much in the great mid-court or banquet-hall, and at
the same time to take counsel for the future, when suddenly
and unexpectedly, although not uninvited, Patrick with his
few companions having divinely escaped the ambushes of the
king, stood before them. Laeghaire was confounded at the
sight, but the laws of Irish hospitality were imperative, and
being there, Patrick was invited to sit beside the king, and
eat and drink. Patrick accepted the invitation; but just before
he took the cup the wicked Druid found time to pour in a
drop of poison unnoticed into the ale. Patrick blessed the
cup with the sign of the cross; the poison curdled, and when
the cup was slightly turned fell out ; whereupon the Saint
drained the cup as if nothing had happened.
Failing in this, the Druid challenged him to work
wonders. Patrick accepted the challenge, and the Druid
brought a fall of snow on the plain, but he could not remove
it : he was powerful for evil, but not for good ; whereupon
Patrick blessed the plain, and the snow instantly disappeared.
Then the Druid brought on a thick darkness over all the face
of the country, yet he could not at Patrick's challenge
remove it. But the moment the saint made the sign of the
cross the darkness disappeared, and the sun shone out in its
splendour. Still the contest was not yet over.
Both sides had books — books of power — the Gospel of
Patrick, and the magic rolls of the Druids. 'Fling them into
the water,' said Laeghaire, ' into the stream close by, that we
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 109
may see which comes out uninjured.' ' No,' said the Druid,
' water is his God.' ' Then cast them into the fire,' said
Laeghaire. ' No,' said the Druid, ' fire he has also for his
God,' alluding to the fire of the Holy Ghost. Then said
Patrick to the Druid: 'Let the matter be settled in another
way. Let a house be made, and do thou, if thou wilt, go
into that house, which shall be completely shut up, with my
chasuble around thee, a cleric of my household will also go
in with thy Druid's tunic around him. Let the house be
fired ; and so may God deal doom on you both therein.'
The men of Ireland thought that a fair challenge, and it
was reluctantly accepted'; yet even there Laeghaire was false,
for he caused the Druid's part of the house to be built of
green timber, and Benen's part to be built of dry wood.
Then a mighty marvel came to pass when the house was
fired; the green part thereof was burned, and the Druid
within it too, although Patrick's chasuble in which he was
clothed was not even singed; whilst Benen's part of the
house though dry was not burned at all, only the Druid's
cloak around him was burnt to ashes, he himself being
untouched by the flames.
The site of Benen's house is still shown on the hill. The
wicked king enraged at the death of his Druid would slay
Patrick, but God scattered his men, and destroyed many
thousands of them on that day. Then the king himself was
sore afraid, and he knelt to St. Patrick, and believed in God ;
' but he did not believe with a pure heart,' and continued to
be half a Pagan all his life, and he died a Pagan's death, and
was buried like a Pagan in his grave. Many thousands of
the king's people also believed on that same day, when they
saw the wondrous signs wrought by Patrick on the Kcyal
Hill.
This was the crowning victory of the Cross at Tara ; but
it had for a thousand years been the chief seat of idolatry
and druidism in the kingdom, and the same spirit lurked
there long afterwards.
Oilioll Molt, the immediate successor of Laeghaire, does
not seem to have been a Christian ; Laeghaire's son,
Lughaidh, who reigned for twenty-five years towards the
110 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
close of Patrick's life, was not a Christian, and was struck
by lightning from heaven at Achadh-Farcha for his impiety.
Draidism was not indeed finally destroyed at Tara until the
year A.D. 565, when another memorable scene was enacted
on the Koyal Hill to which we must now briefly refer.
VII. THE CUESING OF TARA
The high-king at the time was Diarmaid, son of
Ferghus Cearrbhoil, an able and accomplished prince, who
was resolved to maintain the king's peace, order, and
discipline, throughout the land. His purpose was certainly
good ; and it is greatly to be regretted that in enforcing his
authority he acted in a very high-handed way, which brought
him into conflict with the saints of Erin who triumphed
over him.
In the first place there is strong evidence that Diarmaid,
though generous to Clonmacnoise, kept Druids in his
court and army, and was still secretly attached to the
druidical rites. Then, again, he was high-handed in
carrying out his laws, without counting the consequences.
This led him into conflict with his own cousin, the great
St. Columcille, whose person he insulted at Tara by tearing
from his arms a youth who fled for refuge to the saint and
who was not really a criminal, but, accidently, a homicide.
This outrage raised all the north against the king, and led
to his defeat in the bloody battle of Cuildreimhne ; but this
was not, it seems, warning enough for him. He sent his
herald and his high steward over the country to see that the
king's peace was duly kept and the royal authority duly
respected. This official, to show his own consequence,
carried his spear cross-wise before him ; and if the entrance
to a chief's dun were not large enough to admit his spear
thus crossed before him, he caused it to be pulled down, and
made wider for the king's courier and for all others. In this
manner he came down to the south of the Co. Galway, near
the place now called Abbey, in Kinelfechin. The chief of
the district who was going to get married and bring home
his bride, had a short time before strengthened his dun, and
raised a strong palisade of oaken posts over the earthworks.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 111
But for security sake, the entrance was narrow, and the
king's bailiff could not carry in his spear cross-wise. ' Hew
down your doors,' said the bailiff. ' Do it yourself,' said
Aedh Guaire, and at the same moment he drew his sword
and with one blow struck off the man's head. It was
treason against the king, and Guaire knew it well, so he fled
for refuge, first to Bishop Senach his half-brother, and after-
wards to St. Euadhan of Lorrha, who was also his relative.
But Kuadhan also feared the king, and advised the criminal
to fly for safety to the King of Wales. But, even there, the
king demanded his extradition ; so that, in despair, he came
once more to Kuadhan. Then Euadhan hid him in a hole
under his own cell, afterwards called poll Euadhan. Where-
upon the king, hearing that Guaire was at Lorrha, came in
person to demand the criminal. ' Where is he ?' said the king.
' Give him up to me at once.' ' I know not where he is if he
is not under this thatch,' said Euadhan. As the king could
not find him, he departed ; but reflecting that Euadhan
would not tell a lie, and that he must therefore be on the
premises, he returned and discovered the unhappy fugitive
whom he carried off to Tara.
Now, this was a violation of the right of sanctuary, ie.,
monastic sanctuary, which, if it were ever defensible, would
be most defensible in that lawless and sanguinary time. So
Euadhan, summoning to his aid the two St. Brendans, his
neighbours, and many other saints whom he had known at
Clonard, in the school of St. Finnian, followed the king to
Tara to demand the fugitives. The king refused ; but they
were not to be put off. They fasted on the king, and it
seems the king fasted on them. One old chronicler says
that for a full year ' they anathematized Diarmaid, and
plied him with miracles, he giving them back prodigy for
prodigy.' This would seem to imply that there was once
more a conflict between the Druids and the Saints. But in
the end the Saints were completely victorious. ' They
chanted psalms of condemnation against him, and rang
their bells hardly against him day and night ; ' and several
of the royal youths of Tara died suddenly, without
apparent cause. The king, too, had a dream, in which he
112 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
saw a great spreading tree on Tara Hill hewn down by
strangers, and the mighty crash of its fall awoke him. ' I
am that tree,' said Diarmaid, ' and the strangers who chop
it are the clergy cutting short my life. By them I am over-
thrown.' So when he rose he yielded to the clergy, and
gave up the prisoner ; but, at the same time, he said : ' 111
have ye done to undo my kingdom, for I maintained the
righteous cause ; and may thy diocese,' he said to Ruadhan,
' be the first one that is ruined in Ireland, and may thy
monks desert thee.' And so, says the old tale, it came to
pass. Then upon the royal hearth Ruadhan imprecated
the blackness of ruin — ' that never more in Tara should
smoke issue from its roof-tree.' This certainly came to
pass ; the king died a violent death before the year was
over ; and no king after him, though they were called kings
of Tara, ever dwelt on the Royal Hill.
This, in substance at least, is authentic history ; but it is
clear that there is more beneath this story than appears at
first sight. The conflict really was not between the king
and the saints so much as between the saints and his
counsellors, the Druids ; and it was for that reason that the
king was excommunicated, and that Tara was ' cursed,' or
interdicted. Yet we cannot help feeling some sympathy for
the king, and greatly regretting that ' never more in Tara
should smoke issue from its roof-tree.' The curse has been
marvellously accomplished ; but what a pity that the home
of a hundred kings, the royal house of Tuathal, and Cormac,
and Niall should be desolate j1 that the grass 'should
grow in its empty courts ; that the cattle should herd where
the sages and warriors of the Gael once held high revel. It
is surely a sad thing, and it was, moreover, a fatal blow at
the unity and power of the nation. With a high-king
ruling in Tara there was some chance of welding the tribes
of Erin into one great nation ; but when Tara fell it might
be said that hope had disappeared.
Yet, though Tara was deserted by its kings, for none of
them would risk the penalty of dwelling in the accursed site,
1 Even the author of fiacc's Hymn said : ' I like not that Tara should be
made desolate.'
113
it was later on chosen by St. Adamnan and others as a place
to hold great ecclesiastical synods. It may be that Adamnan,
wiser than Euadhan, wished to undo the ancient curse, and
prepare Tara to become once more the seat of the monarchy.
He certainly held a synod there of the prelates and chiefs
of Erin, about the year 697, in which women were formally
and authoritatively exempted from military service ; so that
they became non-combatants, entitled to the protection of
all true Christian soldiers on either side.
VIII. THE EXISTING REMAINS AT TARA
The remains still existing at Tara, seen in the light o(
the lamp of history, are eminently interesting, and well
worthy of a visit. I wish I had a luminous map on which I
could exhibit them to you ; but, failing that, I shall try to
describe them as briefly as I can.
Now, suppose you approach the Koyal Hill by the great
road from the south, anciently called Slighe Dala, and still
in existence, at least on the same lines, you turn a little to
the left at the southern slope of the hill, .and first of all you
meet the triple rampart of Bath Laeghaire. It may have
been the private residence of the king ; but its chief interest
for us is that its outer rampart was certainly the burial-place
of the king himself. Laeghaire had in his character some
traits which we-. cannot help admiring — bad traits, if you
will, but still noteworthy. He was, above all, a steadfast
Pagan, and a great hater of Leinsterrnen. ' I cannot
believe,' he said, ' for my father, the great Niall, would not
allow me to believe, but told me to have myself buried like
a Pagan warrior on the brow of Tara, face to face against
my foes ; and so shall I stand till the day of doom.'
Well, he obeyed his sire. He had sworn a great Pagan
oath, by all the elements, that he would no more exact the
Borrumean tribute from the men of Leirister, and he was
released by them from captivity on the faith of his oath.
But he did try to exact it, and he was slam by the elements —
by the sun and wind — on the banks of Liifey. But the
dying king was still true to his promise to his father. ' Carry
my body home to Tara,' he said, ' and bury me like a king.'
VOL. III. H
Ill THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
And so they interred him, with all his weapons upon him, in
the south-eastern rampart of his own royal rath, standing up
with shield and spear, and his face to Leinster, defying
them, as it were, from his grave until the day of doom. I
wonder is he still there, or did they do to him what the men
of Tir Conall did to another old hero who gave similar direc-
tions— carry him off by night from his royal grave, and bury
him flat in a marsh with his face down, that he might no
more fight from his grave against his hereditary foes. At
any rate, when Monsignor Gargan brings you to Tara do
not miss Bath Laeghaire, and carefully examine its south-
eastern rampart.
Now, leaving Rath Laeghaire, continue due north about
one hundred paces, and you come to the outer rampart of
Eath na Biogh — where it was rather — for much of it has
been carried away. "Within this outer rampart were all the
most ancient monuments of Tara. It was also called
Cathair Crofinn from the Tuatha de Danann Queen; and most
likely contains her grave. A little to the right within this
great inclosure on the east was ' Cormac's House,' the
palace which he built for himself, where he dwelt, and
which was the scene of his glories. It had, at least, a double
rampart round it to separate the palace from the other
buildings of the Koyal City ; and was of considerable extent.
Further on, only a few paces, was the Farradh or Hall of
Meeting; the word also means a seat, and doubtless
signified the place of the royal seat or throne, where the
kings and chiefs of Erin assembled in council round the
monarch. Then beyond the Farradh, still to the north, we
find on the right or east side the Mound of the Hostages —
Dumha-na-Giall — where the royal hostages were kept some-
times in fetters of gold to indicate their quality, but fettered
all the same, for otherwise the light-limbed youths in
bondage would soon clear the ramparts of Tara, and make
their way to their distant homes. On the left, but close by,
was the site of the famous Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny. I
have already indicated that there is a great controversy
about the identity of this stone, and I have signified my own
opinion. This stone never could have served the purpose of an
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 115
inauguration- stone ; for it is a true pillar-stone, and the king-
elect could not be expected to stand upon it. The Lia Fail,
we are told, was the stone on which the kings were
inaugurated, and on which they planted their feet in symbol
of sovereignty. Then, if the prince were of true royal line,
the stone bellowed loudly to signify approval, otherwise it
was dumb. This stone, we are told, was taken over to
Scotland by Fergus Mor MacEarc, a brother of the high-
king of Tara at that time, the beginning of the sixth
century, that he might be inaugurated on this ancestral
stone as king of the Scottish Dalriada. It was taken from
Scone, it is said, in the time of Edward I., and is now under
the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. Petrie's chief
objection to this story is two-fold — first, that we have no
reference to this translation in our ancient annals; and,
secondly, that the Milesian chiefs would never allow the
stone to be carried out of the kingdom.
Well, in reply to the last point we can only say that most
likely one brother lent the stone secretly to the other
without consulting his chiefs; and the same thing would
account for the silence of the Irish annalists. It is not
recorded in the annals of the nation. The story of the
translation came from Scotland, and is told only by our later
antiquaries. It is a question, though very interesting, not
yet by any means settled.
Outside Bath na Riogh, to the north-east, was the well
Neamhnach, which still flows away to the north-east. It is
chiefly interesting as the site of the first corn mill ever
erected in Ireland. Cormac had a beautiful handmaiden,
a bondswoman called Carnaid, whose duty it was to grind
the corn on the hand quern. He pitied the hard toil of the
maiden, and having got some idea of water mills during his
foreign wars, he erected this to lighten the labour of the
maiden. The well still flows, and until quite recently we
believe its waters turned a mill at Tara.
Beyond the outer rampart of Rath na Riogh, still north-
ward, was the Rath of the Synods — Rath Seanadh — where
Adamnan, and Patrick before him, held a synod of the clerics
and chiefs of Erin. It has been practically defaced by the
116 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
wall of the Protestant Church, a recent structure, wholly out
of place on such a site.
Just a little north-east of this point, between the
Eath of the Synods, and the southern extremity of the
banquet-hall, on the very summit of the hill, the five
great roads that led to Tara had their meeting-point.
They can still to some extent be traced from the crown
of Tara radiating in all directions. It is said that they
were discovered on the night that the great Conn was
born ; but probably it merely means that his father, who
had finished their construction, declared them formally
open in honour of that event. I cannot now describe them
at length, but it may be said that in general they ran in the
route of the modern trunk lines of railway to all parts of
ancient Erin.
Just beyond the Eath of the Synods still going to the
north, we find the great Teach-Miodhcuarta, the mid-court
house, or the mead-circling house, as others have translated
it, by far the most interesting of all the existing monuments
of ancient Tara. Its site can still be distinctly traced from
north to south, and the measurements correspond with the
accounts of the building given in our ancient books. It was
no less than eight hundred feet in length, and from sixty to
eighty feet in breadth, with six or seven great entrances on
either side. You will at once perceive that this was an
immense hall, larger than one of the sides of your largest
square, and capable of accommodating an immense number
of chiefs and warriors, either at meat or in council. There
was a great range of couches all round the walls ; the tables,
loaded with meat, were in the centre; the lower portion
seems to have contained a great kitchen for roasting and
boiling, and we are told that some of the large pots could
contain several beeves and pigs which were boiled together.
When the meal was ready the attendants plunged huge forks
into the boilers, which carried out several joints at once to
be deposited as they were, without covers we may pre-
sume, before the assembled kings and warriors. At that
time and long after, knives and forks were unknown ; but I
have no doubt skeans and daggers were called into
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 117
requisition, and perhaps did the work of carving quite as
well.
I hope I have said enough to awaken in you a keener
interest to know for yourselves all about the Eoyal Hill ; and
if so, then I have gained my purpose in speaking before you
here of ' Tara, Pagan and Christian.'
»fr JOHN HEALY.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN1
IT would be a pleasant occupation to deal with volumes so
full of character and incident as these in the light of
literature, and to compare them with some other famous
biographies of celebrated modern men. But my task is not
so easy, nor the scope at which I shall aim so level to the
apprehension of those who read while they run their several
ways, and who take up The Life of Cardinal Wiseman for
their amusement. To me it appears that Mr. Ward has
raised a vital issue, not only in his last far-reaching and
speculative chapter on ' The Exclusive Church and the
Zeitgeist,' but from his very setting out. In exhibiting
Cardinal Wiseman as a preacher, a controversialist, a ruler,
and a restorer, he has traced the lines upon which the first
archbishop of a new Catholic England desired that the
movement of recovery should go forward ; he has drawn
out a policy, and directed our attention to principles of such
high importance, if we once accept them as our own, that
no ecclesiastical statesman or student, no public writer in
the orthodox camp, no theologian or metaphysician, who
dreams of being heard outside his college walls, can afford
to pass them over in silence. If the Cardinal knew his age,
the methods which he pursued in the hope of winning it
deserve our closest examination. Nor will they lose in
power or persuasiveness, should it be demonstrable that in
1 The Life and Times of Cardinal Wiseman. In two volumes. By Wilfrid
Ward. London and New York : Longmans, Green, and Co. 1897.
118 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
following them, as he did, through a most varied and
enthusiastic career, this great cosmopolitan and father of
the Church in our day was one of a number whose thoughts
and designs have at length had the seal of authority set
upon them by Pope Leo XIII.
Not that we can separate Wiseman from his work, or
leave him on one side as a msre abstraction, as the name
we attach to a system, and an ens rationis, after the manner
of certain scholastic pedants who, at their best, were a
volume of impersonal syllogisms. The Irish heart of this
lonely and sensitive student was exceedingly human. He
suffered much, and knew that he suffered. With all his
ardours, enterprises, and hopes he felt the need of sympathy,
which was often denied him, and never, perhaps, quite
answered his large expectations. He remained a shy
creature, this imposing and stately person, with his six
feet two inches of height, his breadth and bigness, his
robes, and trains, and equipage. He was not in the least
that dexterous, self-confident ' Bishop Blougram ' fished up
by a pattern Protestant in Italy — I mean Kobert Browning
—from the depths of his early but unfounded imaginations
of what a Roman cardinal must ever be — no fool, but more
than three parts knave, and wholly Epicurean. In that
dark house of the Via Monserrato known as the Collegio
Inglese, Wiseman lived a curious, dreamlike existence, free
to study as he pleased, wrapt up in Eastern books and
manuscripts, bent over his Syriac and his Hebrew, face to
face with the sacred text so little familiar to many of those
about him ; and he went through a trial of fire that left its
mark upon his spirit, and must have contributed towards
the shaping of his policy in later years. I shall be allowed
to quote this pregnant passage, in which we find the true
Wiseman, simple, as he always was, loyal and candid ; a
witness to the faith wherein, if he now had his severe
difficulties, yet, even thus, he could not be shaken :—
Many and many an hour have I passed [he writes to a nephew,
in 1848] alone, in bitter tears, on the loggia of the English
College, when everyone was reposing in the afternoon, and I was
fighting with subtle thoughts and venomous suggestions of a
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 119
fiendlike infidelity which I durst not confide to anyone, for there
was no one that could have sympathized with me. This lasted
for years ; but it made me study and think, to conquer the
plague — for I can hardly call it a danger — both for myself and
others . . . But during the actual struggle the simple submission
of faith is the only remedy. Thoughts against faith must be
treated at the time like temptations against any other virtue — •
put away — though in cooler moments they may be safely
analyzed and unravelled.
In another letter of 1858 he speaks with painful feeling
of these years as ' years of solitude, of desolation . . . years
of^ shattered nerves, dread often of instant insanity, con-
sumptive weakness, of sleepless nights and weary days, and
hours of tears which no one witnessed.' l
Remarkable, surely, is this disclosure of a depth below
the surface that his friends did not imagine, and of expe-
riences in which they could not share. Wiseman writes at
all times with transparent sincerity ; but his too florid style,
which is the Spanish of Gongora or the Italian of Marini,
seldom touches the heart. In these brief and broken words
it is piercing. We seem to hear the accents of Lamennais ;
nor would it be difficult to detect in that sombre correspon-
dence of the Breton cries which ascend in a like enthralling
strain of mingled faith and perplexity. Are we astonished
at a resemblance which turned out to be no sameness in the
sequel ? Those, certainly, will be far from taking scandal
who are much travelled in the Lives of the Saints, and
who do not forget the desolate hours of St. Ignatius and
St. Theresa. If any man will be a guide through the
Valley of the Shadow of Death, let him first explore its
dolorous ways, and taste that darkness which may be felt.
Nay, as the most lightsome of moderns has told us — and he,
perchance, by temper a real Epicurean — whoso has not
eaten his bread with tears, shall never know the heavenly
powers ; so true is it that sorrow is the beginning of
wisdom. To have learned ' patience, self-reliance, concen-
tration,' to have been ' self -disciplined ' during a conflict
i Ward, i., pp. 64-65.
120 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
so absorbing — this, the Cardinal affirms, made him what he
was: —
Amid these trials [he continues] I wrote my Home Syriacae,
and collected notes for the lectures ' On the Connection between
Science and Revealed Religion ' and the ' Eucharist." Without
this training I should never have thrown myself into the Puseyite
controversy of a later period.
The testimony is clear as it is striking. To days and
years of a torture that, in Montaigne's strong language,
' strips the man to his shirt,' that burns up delusions, and
shows in what a fearful and mysterious world our lot is
cast — to this baptism by fire, and meditation in the wilder-
ness, we owe the Cardinal Wiseman who met the Oxford
movement half way; who realized that faith is a gift of
grace, and not the fruit of controversy ; who was never self-
righteous, or hard upon the weak and feeble ; and who
would not quench the smoking flax which others were
sometimes tempted to trample into its ashes.
At his only English school, Ushaw, "Wiseman describes
himself as a ' lone unmurmuring boy,' dull and friendless,
fond of reading, overlooked by superiors, but still not
unhappy. The journey to Borne stirred his imagination.
He was one of five students from St. Cuthbert's who began
the new career of the Collegio Inglese, which had been shut
up since the French depredations of 1798, and was opened
now under Cardinal Consalvi's patronage. From that day
Eome laid a spell upon the young Irish-Spaniard, a lad of
sixteen, more at home always on the Continent than he felt
himself to be later on at Oscott or York-place, and hence-
forth delivered from the narrowing influences that had given
something harsh and stern, as well as an insular tone of
thought, to the excellent, stubborn, old-world Catholics
among whom he might have continued to vegetate save for
this unexpected change of situation. He became an absolute
Roman.
The season was, in Europe at large, a stormy spring-
tide. Old things were passing away; the new were
putting forth buds of promise. A mighty reaction had set
in with Joseph de Maistre, with Chateaubriand, Lamennais,
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 121
Gorres, and the Schlegels ; all of whom quickened the
Romantic movement which was looking to the Middle Age
for inspiration, and which saw in the Catholic Church a
majesty and a charm unapproachable by the sects, and
enhanced by her recent victory over Napoleon. The grave
religious figure of Pius VII., a suffering saint, represented
to Wiseman that beauty of holiness, that hidden strength;
and he went about Rome, studying it as an open book, as the
visible and most touching evidence of a Christianity which
gloried in its martyrs, and offered sacrifice in its Catacombs,
and dedicated the ancient judgment-halls as its basilicas,
and took over as its inheritance the arts, the literature, the
laws, and the imperial instincts of that earlier city, the
world's mistress. Rome was an epitome of the ages, not
more mediaeval than modern, abounding in memories of the
Renaissance, but mindful yet of St. Gregory, of St. Callistus,
of the Apostles themselves. Who could know its ways
intimately and not be versatile, as a man that has learned
how different is one period from another, how many are the
tongues in which our faith is chanted, how obstinate and
distinct are the characters of those countless tribes that
come on pilgrimage to St. Peter's ? The government of a
Universal Church must be conciliatory, else it will fall into
endless disasters. Schools of thought exist in the unity of
the creed which no Pope or Council would allow to condemn
or to extirpate their rivals ; and yet the Augustinian, the
Jesuit, the Dominican, the Scotist and the Thomist, the
Aristotelian and the Platonist, agree to differ on points which
are closely knit up with principles of immense and vital
consequence to mankind. Often the Church's decision has
been that she will not decide ; she sets bounds to human
rashness, and she leaves a wide domain for private explora-
tion. She keeps a steady gaze on past centuries, suffers
their memorials to persist side by side, is tolerant of many
forms, takes her language from the current phraseology,
chooses rather than creates, is willing to make the best of
circumstances, developes by selection, and is at home with
Orientals, Africans, Byzantines, Franks, Normans, Celts,
and Teutons, indifferent to all their varieties, though neither
122 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
supercilious nor disinterested; and she cares at last for one
thing only, ' the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.'
We shall never grasp Wiseman's ruling idea if we fail
to understand this politic but sincere acquiescence in men's
human qualities, so long as they did not run counter to any
truth of Revelation. He was perfectly tolerant because he
had learned to be orthodox in the Roman sense ; large with
the exquisite good-nature and the fine balance that belong
to a system in which every phase of history has its assignable
position. His first impulse could never be to anathematize
a novel growth in the world around him, but to see whether
it would not bear grafting on the Roman olive, and give its
fruit and its richness to the sanctuary. The genuine Roman
spirit is neither sectarian nor syncretist ; for it relies upon
a tradition that knows its own ; and by long practice it has
learned the wisdom of waiting, until light descends from all
sides to illuminate the question at issue. In matters so
delicate, and as momentous as they are full of a perplexing
subtlety, haste is more to be dreaded than the longest delays.
For submission to the Church's magisterium secures the
faith ; and it lies in the nature of development that contribu-
tions of knowledge will be frequently made by those without.
All judgment, even that of the unerring Master, has its
needful preliminaries, which, while they are indispensable,
cannot be forced, and will not be anticipated.
The distinction which we may claim for Wiseman is
that he never lost sight of either element in Church history.
Rome offered him as a great series of facts and institutions,
of memories and monuments, the philosophy in visible
shape that to others, like Newman writing his Development
of Christian Doctrine, or Mohler contemplating systems of
grace and summing up decrees of Councils, was an infer-
ence painfully to be deduced from remote historical premises.
He could say, with his future heroine, St. Agnes, ' Ecce,
quod concupivi, jam video, quod speravi, jam teneo ; ' what
proof was equal to the vision that came about him on every
side, ' in splendoribus sanctorum,' and that refreshed his
weary heart when difficulties and doubts assailed him,
drawn these, not from the facts which he beheld, but from
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 123
a critical survey of problems darkened by their immeasur-
able antiquity and scribbled over with the comments of
unbelievers ? If Home were one and the same thing as the
Christian religion, for Wiseman this lower sphere must have
been simply the gate of heaven. And when his ' desolate
years ' came to an end, when the yawning gulfs suffered
him to rise towards the light once more, this Kome it was
which he made the centre of his preaching. He knew no
other Gospel ; the touchstone of all good was the Cathedra
Petri. How would it affect the doctrines, customs, prejudices,
.aspirations, activities, of those whom he was intended to
convince or to govern ?
As a boy he had seen something of the old English
Catholics. Now he was making acquaintance, as a student
of Eastern languages, a writer upon questions of Bible
scholarship, a professor and a preacher in the Borne of
Pius VII. and Leo XII. , with antiquarians, tourists, ambas-
sadors, and a mixed society, in which we do not hear of
sceptics or German philosophers. Wiseman spoke and
wrote in many dialects. It was too early for Westerns to
busy themselves about Russian. And, well as he had learnt
the speech of the Fatherland, it does not appear that he was
deeply read in the classics of Germany. I cannot find any
tokens of his intimacy with Kant, or Hegel, or Goethe, or
Lessing. Abstract metaphysical studies had no charm for
him; and St. Thomas Aquinas occupied but a little space
in the curriculum of the Roman University or the Apollinare
of those innocent days. The Romantic Movement, which
suffered a severe defeat towards the middle of the century,
had attended to letters more than to science or systems of
pure thought, and its promise went beyond its performance.
Still, we must remark, how liberal, in comparison with the
Oxford of 1830, was the interest which Wiseman displayed,
not only in exegesis and in the collation of Syriac manu-
scripts, but in physical science, in the philosophy of language,
and in the movement of ideas throughout Europe at large.
He corresponded with Tholuck, Mohler, and Dollinger;
he was an eager disciple of Mai and Mezzofanti ; with
Lamennais he has recorded a most significant conversation ;
124 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and his friendship at the Prussian Embassy, when Bansen
resided there, led to his first acquaintance with Newman.
Thus he had come into contact, before his thirty-second
year, with old Catholics, modern Liberals of many schools,
orthodox as well as heterodox, and the Via Media of the
Church of England. But the school to which he belonged
himself was at once Catholic and progressive, bent on
reconstruction, and much more enamoured of conciliation
than of controversy.
Home was larger, as he found by an intimate experience,
than Ushaw, Oxford, or Tubingen. On returning to England,
in 1835, he was amazed as well as saddened by the apathy
of which his Catholic friends everywhere gave tokens, in the
presence of a new world of ideas into which they did not
care to enter. Like the men in Plato's allegory of the cave,
their eyes, so long turned to darkness, could not endure
the fresh light that was streaming in upon them out of a
morning sky. They were a remnant, helpless and divided.
They lagged behind the age; but many of them had lost
the brave old spirit of their religion — a hundred years or so,
since the ruin of the Jacobite cause, had inflicted grievous
wounds upon them, — the apostasy of great families, the
infection of free-thinking, distrust or dislike of the Holy
See, a Gallican gloom and rigour, a sense of total frustration
and unavailing fatigue. They stood aloof as much almost
from Rome as from England. Their devout men, with
honourable exceptions like Milner, had fallen upon methods
dry and harsh, foreign as they were now become to the
Vita Mystica which is the heart and soul of Catholic piety.
Good priests cried out against the Litany of Loreto, would
not endure the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and looked on
the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament as a strange
thing. Pictures, statues, processions, — all the outward and
visible signs of Catholic grace, — were abhorrent to their
feeling. They showed the irritation and the feeble con-
tempt of invalids for healthy enterprise, which seemed to
them fraught with peril and doomed to inevitable failure.
Comparison with a more active form of religion roused
them to bitterness ; it was cruel, false, impertinent. Yet
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 125
they could not help feeling proud when Wiseman's lectures
at Moorfields drew all eyes upon him, stirred the country
to its depths, and announced a champion whose learning,
warmth, and courage, lent a charm that had long been
absent to argument in this ancient quarrel. They presented
addresses, and for the moment stood up frankly in the open
air. But it struck upon most of them like a biting east
wind. As soon as Wiseman had gone back to Kome, they
retreated into their catacombs.
And yet the days were bringing on a wonderful change.
Wiseman had set in the forefront of the battle not detached
squadrons of arguments on a hundred points of doctrine, but
the one argument, which was, and is, decisive — namely, that
there must be, in matters of religion, a supreme, visible,
historical authority as the safeguard and the witness of
revealed dogma, from which authority there can be no
appeal. He had not read De Maistre or talked with
Lamennais, and failed to apprehend their governing prin-
ciple. Upon them that principle had dawned in history, or
was the secret of a universal philosophy ; Wiseman knew it
as the city which was eternal, his beloved Rome. The new
Laudians of Oxford were still like men in a dream ; slowly
and intermittently they laid hands now on one great Catholic
truth, now on another, feeling about in the visions of the
night of antiquity for objects which appeared to them as dim
but real, certain yet obscurely visible, while in Rome these
very truths were embodied in sacred rites and institutions,
not open to cavil, nor asking any subtle ratiocinations, in
order to be recognised. In the British Critic Newman con-
templated the discourses at Moorfields as a triumph over
English divines whose principles were still those of the
Reformation. He spoke of ' Romanism ' as having in it
truths ' which we of this day have almost forgotten, and its
preachers,' he said, ' will recall numbers of Churchmen and
Dissenters to an acknowledgment of them.' Wiseman was
sure to win converts, and the Papal system would spread.
Tract 71 opens with the admission that ' the controversy
with Roman Catholics has overtaken us like a summer's
126 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
cloud ; ' that ' from long security ' no preparation had been
made against it ; and that
The same feelings which carry men now to dissent will carry
them to Eomanism ; novelty being an essential stimulant to
popular devotion, and the Eoman system, to say nothing of the
intrinsic majesty and truth which remain in it amid its corrup-
tions, abounding in this and other stimulants of a most potent
and effective character.1
Sorry comfort these sayings offered to the multitude,
who were not unwilling to be disciples of Laud, but who for
years had thought of Home as dead and buried. They spoke
their indignation. Yet Newman was the witness of an
influence far more concrete and actual than he realized in
1836. Not only was the ^Reformation victoriously borne
down in argument ; the foundations of the National Church
were undermined.
A singular and dramatic episode followed upon this
engagement of distant artillery between the two leaders.
Wiseman was made president of Oscott ; but in his study
at Monte Porzio, looking out towards delightful Tusculum
and Camaldoli, he had put together, piece by piece, the
elements of a demonstration which was founded in the
fathers' writings, yet by one stroke passed out of folios and
planted itself alive in the nineteenth century. Mr. Ward
has described the whole situation, in 1839, with candour and
insight ; nor do I hesitate to say, and the acknowledgment
is surely due from those who have read his pages, that they
furnish no unworthy supplement, at this critical turn, to
the Apologia itself, which keeps in view rather what was
occurring in England than the general hopes and fears of
Christendom. Abroad, the logic of the matter was more
clearly seen on both sides ; authority made its claim against
the omnipotence of individual reason or Private Judgment,
and Private Judgment resisted. But there was no confusing
issue of antiquarianism which could masquerade, though a
disembodied ghost, in the outward shows of an Establish-
ment. Keligious minds at Oxford, haunting libraries, lived
1 Via Media, ii., pp. 87-91.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 127
in a realm of shadows; they opposed Antiquity to Authority,
never observing that it is only by the power and prerogative
of Authority now present that Antiquity does not fade away
from the millions of struggling mortals who cannot be scholars
and whose life is moulded by action, not by erudition or the
fathers. To bring this controversy, otherwise interminable,
to an issue, Antiquity itself must be made to pronounce, by
one regal sentence, in favour of Authority as its living voice.
The sentence was extant in St. Augustine. There had been
Anglicans of the fourth century, as there were Donatists of
the nineteenth — bishops and churches and local usages, and
appeals to times past, exactly the same in both provinces,
Carthage and England. But St. Augustine was Antiquity ;
and he, the greatest of the fathers, had cut through all these
questions with a statement of simple fact. Schism, he said,
was apostasy ; and to be divided from the visible Church
was to be a schismatic : ' Quapropter securus judicat orbis
terrarum bonos non esse qui se dividunt ab orbe terrarum,
in quacunque parte orbis terrarum.' 1
These miraculous words pulverized the Via Media, and con-
verted Newman. But I think it has not been remarked
that ' securus judicat orbis terrarum' is the very principle of
Lamennais, translated from the region of metaphysics —
where it is capable of doing harm, and may be so handled
as to deserve condemnation — to the domain of history and
revelation. It excludes private judgment from a subject in
which that judgment can possess no a priori axioms or self-
evident intuitions. The Gospel is a treasure confided to
divinely-appointed keepers ; if its home i& not an historical
society from which it cannot be lost, it will have undergone
the fate of all previous and subsequent philosophies, which
time and tide have disintegrated, broken up, and left at the
mercy of mere speculation. Dogma is a fact — or it is
nothing better than the fancies of Epicurus or Spinoza.
And, if it is a fact, the proof of its existence will lie in the
meridian of facts ; we shall need only to open our eyes and
see it, instead of searching through a thousand volumes for
1 Ward, i. 32:5, seq.
128 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
evidence that it once existed. The parallel to Lamennais'
denunciation of idealism is perfect. Lamennais said, ' You
cannot prove the world to be a reality ; no proof is possible,
for none is requisite ; your belief in a world is antecedent to
all proof.' In like manner, the Via Media was Idealism in
theology. Given the fathers, said Oxford, the problem is to
arrive at an actual Church. Wiseman replied by showing
that the problem was far more simple, and that its solution
lay close at hand ; that the fathers judged between heretics
and Catholics by the test of obedience to authority ; and that
they gave as a sufficient token of authority the vincuhtm
pads, or unity in visible communion. It was obvious, from
this point of view, that no Church could be at once apostolic
and schismatical ; for schism abolished, at one blow, the
notes and prerogatives of a Christian Church, and reduced
its disciples to a crowd of incoherent dissenters.
When Newman read that famous article, he was
staggered. Never again did he see his English Church in
the same fair light ; and if he was not prepared to offer his
submission, yet the Via Media had disappeared. His sole
ground of reluctance was a Protestant one — belief in Roman
corruptions which had crept in since the beginning. But
were they corruptions ? How if they should turn out to be
not corruptions but developments? He yielded imme-
diately, as one may say, to the negative force of Wiseman's
quotation from St. Augustine ; of its positive or protecting
force as regards dogma he had yet to be convinced. In
sound logic — I mean if the Gospel was to endure ' usque ad
consurnmationem sseculi ' — the charisma of unit}' which
guarded against schism could not fail to guard against
corruption ; the one Church must be truly Apostolic, and
the Creed was, therefore, safe in her keeping. However,
this demonstration from the nature of the case would not
satisfy Newman. He resolved to work it out in detail, so
far, at least, as to realize for himself the identity, under laws
of development, which existed between different phases and
epochs of the society whose unbroken record lay before him.
And here, too, by a most happy combination of circum-
stances, Wiseman led the way.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 129
It was in October of that same year, 1839, at the opening
of St. Mary's, Derby, that the preacher who had just taken
the ground from under Newman's feet delivered a sermon
which might have been printed in October, 1845, as a
summary or a preface of the Development. Mr. Ward has
done well to give the long extracts from it which we read in
his first volume ; and, considering how significant is their
anticipation of the New Apologetics, theological students
will find their reward in turning back to so clear and unmis-
takable a recognition of principles, never, indeed, unknown,
yet during this present century brought home to the
Christian consciousness with startling vivacity. We must
always bear in mind that it was not from Newman the
preacher had acquired his doctrine or his illustrations. So
much the more instructive is their spontaneous agreement.
Wiseman's text, the ' grain of mustard-seed,' becomes,
under his calm and conclusive handling, a theory, but a
theory which as it moves along calls upon the events of past
ages to confirm all that is advanced. If the Old Testament
proceeded by way of growth and expansion — so runs his
argument — the New has not lost this quality of life.
These principles [he observes, speaking of sin and the need
of redemption, on which the Jewish Dispensation rested as upon
a corner-stone] did yet seem to be neglected until gradually
brought forth by circumstances into a clearer light, and made
leading ideas of the first importance.
This is the very tone and spirit of Bishop Butler's
Analogy ; l yet I am disposed to think that not Butler so
much as Joseph de Maistre had taught Wiseman a view
which is common to St. Augustine and St. Vincent of
Lerins. He continues : —
So, in the New Law, we might be led to expect a similar
course, and not be surprised if we have to trace practices or
feelings which became, at particular times, the leading charac-
teristics of religious thought to doctrines or principles which
originally lurked as one seed in the furrow among others of
greater magnitude. . . Nothing is more common, yet nothing is
more mistaken, than to confound the greater manifestation of
things with their first origin. 2
1 See, especially, Butler, Part ii , ch. 3, p. 160. 2 Ward, i., p. 315.
VOL. III. I
130 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
He proceeds to give instances of ' outward growth ' and
1 interior development ' : —
Everything [he says] was gradual. At first the Jewish
worship was attended, and many of its ceremonial rites observed,
with scrupulous precision . . . The hierarchy was not planted by
our Saviour, nor by the Apostles themselves, in a systematic
form ; but the episcopal body, if I may so speak, evolved from
itself, in due season, the priestly order . . . The very doctrines
of Christianity were communicated with a similar proportion.
And, having laid down this large principle, he applies it,
as Newman was to do later on, to the powers of the Holy
See and the cultus of our Lady. Religious belief does not
alter in its essence, but it grows and expands, and has its
full effect according as circumstances allow. ' The germ
only existed in the beginning ; ' still, as that germ was a
living thing, it contained within itself developments of the
grandest compass. ' Through the medium of the affections,
as much as through dogmatical investigations,' the mysteries
of the faith reached their perfect stature ; nay, heresy itself
brought out their meaning. Moreover, while
The vivid impressions of one age grew faint under the influence
of succeeding agencies, yet enough was left of the spirit of each
to be borne down to succeeding generations as a record of the
vicissitudes through which their religion had passed. In this
way the very evidences of Christianity partook of the character
of all else connected with it, being themselves capable of
increasing development.1
Here is a view, we may confidently pronounce, which
for the stationary or crystallized Church, whether of
Anglicans or Russians, substitutes a doctrine of progress
which it makes not so much a part as the whole of our
creed, and declares to be the secret whereby, as Catholics,
we maintain ourselves under the stress of opposition, as
well as advance in the spiritual life. How little Wiseman
was afraid of drawing inferences from his own principles of
assimilation and evolution, both in dogma and ritual,
was already manifest in the Letters to Mr. John Poynder,
who had assailed the Roman Church as at once heathen and
•Ward, i., p. 318.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 131
idolatrous, on the ground of her borrowing from Pagan
antiquity. The answer came, not in the form of denial,
but as a deliberate acknowledgment, for which the justifica-
tion might be found in St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei, in
Clement of Alexandria's Stromata, and in St. Gregory's
Epistles. There was a wider conception of Providence
than English Puritan theology had grasped. Religious
truths, and the symbolism by which they are fittingly
shadowed forth, lie dispersedly in fragments, suggestions,
gleams, and strange distorted figures, all over the surface of
the world. Inspiration, without antecedents or material
to work upon, is not the power which has established
Christianity from of old.
If Eome has borrowed, so has Judea. The most peculiar
of the dogmas confessed by every Church throughout the
West — the Incarnation itself — may be paralleled in earlier
forms of belief, and are not unknown to those enormous
systems that have long held sway among Hindus or
Egyptians.1 In other words, the principle once admitted
of a germ of divine life which grows by taking up into its
circulation all the truths accessible to human intelligence,
we cannot draw the line at any given stage in the Old
Testament or the New ; we must resolve the history of
mankind into a series of 'moments,' or of a religious
dynamics, where every single force acts upon every other,
and nothing is so common or unclean that it cannot be
purified, given the freedom of the spirit, and assumed into
the heavenly synthesis. The sufficient reason of a method
which some may think very bold is laid down in a hundred
places by St. Augustine when he is refuting the Manichees.2
He had discovered, after years of pain and anguish, that evil
is a negation of good, not a substance in itself, nor a force,
nor anything real apart from the truth which it denies or
the virtue which it rejects. ' Total depravity ' is a figment
of the imagination ; nature always keeps some element which
it has received from its Creator, moral, physical, or rational,
else it would cease to exist. This, then, is the underlying
1 Ward, L, pp. 247,248. 2 Contra Faustitm, passim.
132 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
unity, as it is the inexhaustible mine, from which we draw
in assimilating, on our own principles, to a supernatural
faith, capacities and acquisitions hitherto unblest, or standing
in need of consecration.
It is singular that Newman, who had granted so much
of this view, and expressed it with deep feeling, in his Arians
of the Fourth Century,1 where he was an enthusiastic disciple
of the Alexandrians to whom he always clave, did not per-
ceive its bearing on controversies of lesser moment. For
who will compare the development of Papal prerogatives
with the effulgence in Hebrew Monotheism of a doctrine so
strange to it, in many eyes, as that of a Logos incarnate, of
one substance with the Father, yet a Second Person in the
Trinity? And what is the extent of the change in our
religious attitude which the veneration of Mary brings
with it to a mind already Christian, if we have at all
measured the mental revolution that must have taken place,
when those who had adored an unseen Deity in Jerusalem
now bowed down to a crucified man as their God and
Saviour ? On the other hand, it was a direct consequence
of the spirit in which Luther and Calvin approached history,
that when they had bereft the Church of her charismata on
the ground of abuses, they should go on to divide between
the world and its Maker in such wise as effectively to
resuscitate Manicheism. The antidote which alone could
neutralize that deadly influence was to show the Catholic
genius in its true light, engaged from the beginning upon
its task of redemption, not laying life itself under anathema,
but proving all things, and holding fast in its own strength
to that which was good.
This new style of controversy perplexed the elder school
which had been brought up on Bossuet's Variations, an
admirable though incomplete statement of the points in
dispute, now so successful as to be no longer needed. They
failed to perceive a Catholic promise in the Oxford move-
ment. To them movement of any sort was distasteful.
They knew nothing of the philosophy of religious dynamics.
1 Chap. i.p p. 82, 3rd edit.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 133
They were not even sensible of the loss which they had
themselves sustained by not attempting to march onward
when their brethren in other countries set them an example.
They had ceased to assimilate, and they were ceasing to
live. Wiseman established The Dublin Review that in its
pages, contributed from all parts of the Catholic world
as he meant them to be, some clear picture might emerge
of the great things our religion had done in former times,
and was capable of doing still, if a lair field were not
denied to her children. It was to ' treat of living questions '
and 'grapple with real antagonists.' In all its disquisitions,
antiquarian or historical, the present nineteenth century
was to be kept in view. But he also desired, says Mr. Ward,
'to fashion a zealous and cultivated priesthood,' as 'the
first step in that general reformation of the English Catholic
body on which his heart had been set since his English
campaign of 1835.' And he writes with unusual sagacity
as regards this training : —
What is principally to be aimed at [he tells Dr. Newsham, of
Ushaw], is accustoming them from the early part of their course
to think and judge, of which they seem to have little idea. They
do not seem to know how to make things out for themselves, or
to make one bear upon another ; whatever they learn they seem
to put up in their heads, and not to have it at hand when wanted
for some other purpose.1
He did not reform the education of the clergy, despite
his excellent intentions. Without trained masters, shut out
from the universities, and themselves appointed to teach
before they had been taught, the next generation differed
very little from their predecessors. Nevertheless, a current
of life and animation flowed through Oscott while he reigned
over the College, that made it a centre not unworthy to
draw within its influence strangers from abroad, and the
Tractarians who were soon to help Wiseman, or to occasion
him fresh anxiety, in his efforts to make of Catholicism a
force which should overcome the spirit of the age. He
could reckon upon Pugin, that powerful but erratic genius,
when he would restore the liturgical offices to their ancient
1 Ward, i., p, 268.
134 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
splendour. But he still felt himself alone. As Lord Acton
testifies, the motley group of men whom he found, or brought
together at Oscott, followed their old instincts, nor took
any severe trouble to make his thoughts and projects their
own. Some of them who survived the Cardinal into my
time, as I remember, did not appear to be living in the
nineteenth century at all ; they were shadows with faint
voices, murmuring like pallid spectres of the only years in
which they had drawn breath, long ago in some other world
not known to moderns. What they felt when a being so
versatile and hopeful stepped down among them, it is not
easy to imagine.
He had from his first coming to Oscott [says Mr. Ward]
marked the place out, in spite of the smiles of his critics, as the
site of important accessions to communion with the Holy See ;
but the fulfilment of his dreams had not materially changed the
attitude of the English Catholics who opposed the movement.
The old fashion was to be extremely slow in accepting converts,
and even to discourage them.1
Lingard, judging the Oxford men by their ancestors
in the time of Laud and Archbishop Wake, cherished no
hopes of their submission. The Vicar Apostolic of London
thought schismatics never came back to the Church.
Another talked of Newman as a traitor, whose kiss of
peace meant everything that was false and dangerous. The
missionary spirit was dead among English Catholics. Oscott,
says Wiseman in a touching fragment written at this time,
was ' a mere place of education,' and how few were willing
to see in it ' a great engine employed in England's conver-
sion and regeneration ! ' He, therefore, as Newman felt,
was ' the chief or rather the only promoter ' among these
hereditary Catholics, of those objects which all through,
however unconsciously to themselves, the Tractarians had
aimed at realizing.
But alone, or with Pugin and Spencer, he did bring
them in after an anxious interval, thanks to the spirit of com-
passion and charity which he had acquired in Rome, nor
without the aid and approbation of the Holy Father and the
1 Ward, i., p. 447.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 135
due ecclesiastical authorities. At Propaganda no difficulties
were raised. His Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, which
discussed the terms of what has since been described as
' corporate reunion,' passed without censure, although it
came close to Tract Ninety, and suggested, as a basis of
negotiation, the Thirty-nine Articles, subject, of course; to
explanations which were to follow the Council of Trent.
After 1845 it was still his task to protect the neophytes, who
were looked upon as doubtful Christians by many of their
Catholic brethren — while they, in turn, experienced that
strange, unpleasant sensation which was sure to spring up
within them at the sight of a people so unlike the company
from which they had separated. The cure for all this, in
Wiseman's unalterable judgment, was Home. Converts
needed to make a pilgrimage thither, as St. Paul went up to
Jerusalem to see the Prince of the Apostles, lest he should
' have run in vain.' Old Catholics needed the establishment
among them of Koman devotions, of religious and ascetic
communities, of the Vita Contemplativa and the full liturgy;
of Canon Law and Christian art, and all they had lost in this
long Babylonish exile from the life of the Universal Church.
We cannot but admire the simple greatness which adherence
to this principle manifested on Wiseman's part. He did
not exalt any article in so large a design out of its relation
to every other ; he was remarkably well-balanced, and saw
the whole as from its proper centre. And there is something
magnanimous, and, one had almost said, philosophical—
though he could not claim to be a philosopher — in his view
of the divers elements that go to make up a fully-developed
Catholic.
Wiseman did not commit himself willingly to any violent
extreme. He was not the man to overlook the importance
to Catholicism in fact of acquaintance with modern criticism,
with literature and languages, with physical and mental
science, as it is cultivated in the great schools of France or
Germany, with Oriental studies, explorations, and documents.
But it was his misfortune that opportunity never came to
him of training disciples or raising up a succession of
learned men. His practice, like Newman's theory, of
136 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
development, though surely destined hereafter to mould the
Catholic spirit which will brine; in a second and still
grander Middle Age, encountered opposition, misunder-
standing, and the wrath of those to whom their own history
and antecedents were a book with seven seals. They held
by the Creed with entire faithfulness ; but how they came
to have a creed at all they never had considered. They
were Ptolemaics in doctrine for whom the earth stood still.
Had Wiseman enjoyed robust health after he came to
Westminster, and had his life been prolonged another ten
or fifteen years, it is possible that the Church, not only in
England, but on the Continent, might have escaped some
grievous troubles. For he was the one Cardinal of European
fame who exercised a moderating influence, where modera-
tion was the secret of progress. He never would have
alienated Newman, since, in spite of remarkable differences
in training and temper, he understood that rare kind of
genius, and saw further into the principles of dogmatic
development than his successor, Cardinal Manning, largely
as Manning was to hansel them at the Council of the
Vatican. He could have done much, and with the best
grace in the world, to keep in check the Gallic ardour of the
Veuillots and the Gerbets and the Gaumes, which has cost
our dearest hopes some twenty years of superfluous disap-
pointment. Perhaps he might have held back the more
spiritual-minded among the disciples of Munich from their
fatal step in 1870. Given, at all events, the strong constitu-
tion which he never had, there was no reason why he should
not have inaugurated a scheme of Oriental and German
studies, the want of which is telling now, as it has told these
many years, with disastrous effect on English theological
education. Though not himself deeply read in the meta-
physics of the School, he would have held out his right hand
to St. Thomas ; but his other hand would have been
extended to modern research ; and the unsatisfactory skir-
mishing which went on, thirty-five years ago, round the
Rambler and the Home and Foreign Revieio, would have
given place to a critical acquaintance with the text of the
Bible, and to the sustained efforts, by which alone we shall
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 137
arrive at a genuine common measure, between the language of
Eastern prophets and the exegesis of Western philosophers.
Wiseman's last ten years seem now, indeed, a time big
with calamities ; but they cannot be laid at his door. The
worst charge ever brought against him may remind us of
Newman's lines to St. Gregory Nazianzen : ' Thou couldst
a people raise, but couldst not rule.' He was full of plans,
missionary, ascetic, educational ; but opposition threw him
back, and some would call him faint-hearted. There is
another light in which he appears, like a man forespent
with long struggling, and none to help. Bead, for instance,
his singularly touching letter on the disappointment which
was occasioned by those religious orders introduced solely
through his exertions into London, the rules of which for-
bade them to take their place in evangelizing the mixed and
modern population which lay on every side of them. He
turned to the Oratorians, who did what was asked. But
when he established, for a like purpose, the Oblates of
St. Charles, that weary campaign of old Catholics against
new began, which was not to end until a fresh generation
grew up, intent on larger prospects. Our permanent loss,
on looking back, appears to have been chiefly in the province
of literature, sacred and secular. Catholics were debarred
from Oxford until the other day, though having no university
of their own in England to which they could resort ; and the
revision of the Bible, to which Newman had put his hand, was
arrested; on what grounds it would be worth while to inquire,
though, doubtless, they were as petty and inadequate as the
reasons commonly assigned for other hindrances to the
general advance on the part of hereditary believers.
Concerning this last project Newman has a significant
passage, as early as the first days of 1847. He tells
Wiseman : —
The Superior of the Franciscans, Father Benigno, in the
Trastevere, wishes us, out of his own head, to engage in an
English authorized translation of the Bible. He is a learned
man, and on the Congregation of the Index. "What he wished
was that we should take the Protestant translation, correct it by
the Vulgate, and get it sanctioned here.1
i Ward, i., p. 354.
THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
This was not done; but an English Catholic Bible is
still indispensable and will some day be attempted. As for
that ' blessing of an elevated secular education,' as Wiseman
himself terms it, in the ancient seats of learning, it could be
denied only so long as the hope was held out of a university
founded and carried on with our small resources. When
time bore witness against so ambitious a scheme, the doors
were unlocked, always with due caution, which admitted
Catholic young men to a share in the culture and the public
life of their own generation. Thus Wiseman's original
thought has proved to be the issue of a perplexed and irritat-
ing question, kept open — certainly not to our advantage—
for no less than thirty years.
His lectures to mixed audiences, upon subjects remote
from controversy and in their nature scientific or antiquarian,
led to some criticism which we now perceive was not only
futile but extremely shortsighted. The preacher who had
delighted thousands at Moorfields, found himself, after the
storms of 1850, no longer on friendly terms with his country-
men ; but the platform was not inaccessible on which he
could win their hearts by an eloquence and a frankness
that were among his most taking qualities. He lectured to
England, not in vain. He would not retire into his tent,
or abide cloistered and secure, but ineffective. His literary
success made it seem natural for the great Englishman who
came after him to undertake a social and humanitarian
crusade, not once, but repeatedly, until he attained the
memorable triumph of the Dockers' Strike. Between
Wiseman and Manning there was no difference of tactics.
They both knew and felt that the day of isolation must
come to an end. Nevertheless, in range of outlook and accu-
racy of vision, it will be difficult to deny that Wiseman was
superior. He did not regard life or literature, the arts or
the sciences, with a coldness such as the born Puritan finds
instinctive in himself; constitutionally, he was more sanguine
than severe, but he would have justified his views on the
Koman principle, which has in it a wealth of sunshine, and
is tolerant because it has learned what Mark Pattison truly
calls, ' the highest art — the art to live.' That is an art
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 139
which, since the Reformation had its way, is not much
cultivated among Englishmen. They are full of movements
and counter-movements ; but their Religion has too often
aimed at suppression instead of regulation, nor has taken
into account the joy of life.
It would be incumbent on one who was reviewing
Wiseman's policy at length to show what I shall here briefly
indicate — how it was of the same texture as that which will
make Leo XIII. a great historical name among popes and
reformers. We may describe it as constructive ; but who
can construct without materials, or in the discarded and
obsolete style of another period, if his purpose aims at
housing the present generation ? Again, it may be termed
a missionary plan, which takes for its object the winning to
Christian faith and practice, not of barbarians, but of the
civilized and the progressive. Hence it demands learning,
sympathy, largeness, and a delicate sense of what lies nearest
the hearts of moderns. It is universal in its enthusiasm
for the different yet beautiful aspects of God's world, and
it puts under anathema nothing but sin. The language
employed by Cardinal Wiseman, as by Pope Leo, is
studiously self-controlled, even where it condemns or refuses
assent to untenable propositions. It allows of immense
variety in tastes, in judgments, in peculiarities of disposi-
tion, and while tolerant of parties will not allow any of
them to usurp the name or dignity of the Church. * Peace
within and conciliation without ' may be said to express the
spirit in which the modern Catholic programme is drawn
up. But its designs cannot be fulfilled except at the cost of
unceasing effort. When we relax in the contemplation of
revealed truths, and decline to apply them in detail to the
world in which we find ourselves, we are already weakening
our hold upon them. Theology is not a science of the dead
past, but of the living present ; and as it goes back to
Scripture in one direction, so in another it moves forward
as the ages move, taking and giving, learning and teaching,
not ashamed to borrow from to-day for its own high purpose,
even as it made ample use of the Stoic and Platonic philo-
sophies, and knew how to welcome the Aristotelians, and
140 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
has been a debtor to Maimonides, to Avicenna, and to the
Arabians. Neither would it now be impossible to point out
advantages which have come to us from a knowledge of
Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer. But let these mere hints
suffice. That regard which we owe to Wiseman's memory
will, it is imagined, be most deeply felt by Catholics who
pursue, as he did, the study of the Bible by turning to the
languages in which it was written ; who 'cultivate science,
and are alive to the ever-growing significance of art and
literature in modern days ; and who throw themselves into
the generous policy which Rome invites them to carry
onward into the new age, under her guidance and blessing.
WILLIAM BAEEY.
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM
II.
question before us is a definite one. It deals with
__ but one of the many issues of socialism. With its
possibility as a political scheme, we have nothing to do. It
would be difficult to say whether, in theory, the threads of
labour might run unentangled through an intricate national
collective industry. Practically, I think that the details of
commerce could never be controlled by any government,
centralized or federal. The socialist schemes remind us, as
a rule, of those chosen few, whom, Lord Bolingbroke tells
us, are ' specially nurtured in the world by Providence for
the maintenance and spread of impossible ideals.' Neither
are we concerned with the attitude of socialism towards
religion and the Church. Indeed beyond the decided trend
of the revolution from which it sprang, and the tone and
character of its advocates and adherents, socialism as a
system does not profess to have any definite tenet or aim in
reference to doctrinal matters at all. At times the public
actions of its leaders evince the action of secret springs
that undoubtedly are not of God. 'Us aiment,' says
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 141
M. Louis Eeybaud, ' s'escrimer dans 1'ombre, et, quand on
les presse trop vivement ils s'enveloppent de leurs nuages.'
Such matters have no interest for us now. We are
occupied with but one inquiry — the attitude of socialism
to the production of wealth. The innumerable questions
that this originates, the methods, aims, and promises of
socialism ; its virtue as an expedient ; its adaptability to the
varying market tides; its subtlety in ekeing out of the holes
and corners of industry the treasures they afford to skilful
manipulation, may all be embodied in this one inquiry —
how will the proletarian fare when private capital has
become effete, and collectivism supervenes ? This is the
question that concerns us now. To answer it we shall have
to digress, at no small length, from the main topic under
consideration.
To bring this matter to a definite issue, we may put it
thus hypothetically. What would happen if every half-
penny of the capital of England were disbursed from the
coffers of private owners, and poured en masse into the
national treasury, that ensuing profits might be dealt out
evenly, or proportionally to each one's work? Popular
feeling would certainly run high were such a law suddenly
enacted. And naturally so. No economic scheme yet known
offers to the unreflecting mind such rich and abundant fruits
as socialism. It is this that has made it a popular creed. Now
we can easily see how far such promises are likely to be realized.
Let us examine them briefly. A little reflection will enable
us to see, that the nationalization of our whole capital
would be quite as unprofitable as the idea is chimerical.
The greater number of our private concerns require for their
existence the exertions of one who is conscious to himself,
that he must sustain whatever is lost, as well as gain what-
ever is gained. Then, too, to confiscate the land in its
entirety would be quite useless on socialistic lines. It
would be much easier, in the socialistic state, for the
smaller landowners to draw their income from the land
they till, than to send the products to the national treasury,
and then receive their yearly divide. The abolition of
the richer landowners would quite fulfil the Socialistic aims,
142 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
because their incomes are a great deal in excess of what they
could expect from the national divide. Indeed it is to those
larger and more permanent factors in our industry, such
as the large estates, the railways, and (outside of industry),
the National Debt, and the expenses of royalty, that the
popular mind naturally turns as the centre of its hopes.
The workman is envious that the greater part of the
product of lands should go into the pocket of an idle land-
lord, whilst his own daughter has to toil daily in the din
and fluff of a city factory. He, naturally, hopes that at
some future date, when rent, railway profits, and the
interest on the National Debt are apportioned, without
distinction of class, he maybe saved, at least, from the pinch
of hanger, if not from the need to work. ' The first impres-
sion of the intelligent population,' says Mr. Kuskin in his
Crown of Wild Olives, 'is this, that as in the dark ages
half the nation lived idle, in the bright ages to come the
whole of it may.'
Let us now suppose, that all these things have been
effected. Every farm of over a thousand acres has become the
property of the nation. Railways are under government con-
trol, and the capital belongs to the whole people. Every soul
in the realm has now its share in the interest of the National
Debt. Eoyalty, too, has disappeared, and with it the heavy
expenses of the court. What additions will now accrue to
the incomes received under the old system ? I shall take
these items separately. The land account would be worth
to each a little less than three farthings a day. If the
whole rent were divided amongst us this income would be
increased by a penny farthing. Eailway profits and the
National Debt would afford us each about three half-pence
a day. If the royal court were abolished to-morrow, we
should each be enriched by sixpence a year, or the one-
thirty-sixth of a penny a day. Into such figures the socialist
Utopia shrinks and dissolves. With such miserable results
awaiting the proletarian, his eyes are made to swim, in
the delusive vision of future greatness, and wealth, and ease.
This style of argument, I must admit, smacks strongly
of the Chrysippean fallacy. Items that, separately, are
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 143
of little account, may be formidable enough when taken
conjointly. What then about those lesser concerns from
which considerable profits are at present realized ? I answer,
first: that the number of concerns it is possible to nationalize
is a very insignificant portion of our industry. As I have
said already, the greater number of private concerns depend
for their existence on the energy and tact of a single
capitalist, and can exist only because he is imbued and
stimulated by the thought that whatever is lost, is lost to
himself, and whatever is gained will be his own. But
let us examine the more chimerical hypothesis, and suppose,
for an instant, that the entire capital of the British nation
is actually centralized in the national treasury. How
far, we ask, would the ensuing profits exceed the wages
apportioned in our industry for average labour in an
average market? We are not contemplating the division
of capital, but only of profits furnished by its use. The
national income of England now, allowance being made
for second countings, is about ^£1,200,000,000 a year. If
every halfpenny of this money were divided, according to
gradation of age and sex, Mr. Mallock computes that the
result would be approximately as follows : —
s. d.
For each adult male ... 19 6 a week
,, ,, female ... 14 6 ,,
„ youth ... 10 0 „
„ infant ... 40,,
Now each of these with the exception of the infant
would have to work for the amount received. Compare
these figures with the average wages received for labour in
the English markets. Mr. Giffen has shown that the
average wage is over 20s. a week. Forty-one per cent, of
the labouring population are in receipt of more than 25s.
Only twenty-three per cent, earn less than 20s. Few boys
and girls in the English factories are in receipt of less than
10s. a week. Most of them earn a great deal more. Of
course, more women would be working than now, and that
would be some increase to trade ; and the support of the
infant is not to be despised. But, as I said, the case is quite
144 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
chimerical. Our figures will fall on a slight analysis. I am
not now referring to the decay of industry that should
necessarily follow the introduction of socialism. I am
speaking of quite another matter. Let us examine the
nature of the national income, and then we shall see that
an enormous portion of that same income is really not
divisible at all, and that consequently the figures given
above will be found to shrink to a smaller compass. Of
the £1,200,000,000 that make up our profits, only £38,000,000
are represented by coin. An immense portion of what
remains could never be divided as money can, consisting as
it does, of service, transports, new works of art, expensive
furniture, plate, &c. Even of that portion which is actually
divisible, more than one half is made up of imports given in
exchange for goods exported. But such exchange will
last only as long as the untiring energy of capitalist
and entrepreneur can put their products into competition
with the best goods in the world's markets. We shall
afterwards see how unfavourable socialism is likely to prove
to the exercise of industrial energy.
We see now that that portion of the £1,200,000,000
income, divisible into lots falls very short of the total
itself, for a picture cannot be cut in strips and served out
to buyers like common cloth.
But a matter of importance awaits us yet. We have
taken it for granted in the computations made, that our
present income would continue to exist quite independent
of the industrial revolution that socialism is to bring about.
We have taken it for granted, that the profits of industry
are a constant quantity, having nothing to do with parti-
cular systems of production, management, and administration
of capital. But now I say that a very great part of our
national income must necessarily vanish in the socialistic
state. To prove it, we must see what is the cause of the
immense additions that have accrued to capital in the
century that has just now passed. We cannot do better in
answering this question, than to follow the lines laid down
by Mr. Mallock in his account of the growth of capital in
England. But before doing so, there are other matters that
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 145
he has not touched, that must claim the reader's closest
attention. A century ago the capital of England amounted
to about £1,600,000,000. It now stands at £10,000,000,000.
What is the origin of this increase ? The answer is plain —
capital has increased because profits are saved. £200,000.000
are put by annually, and added to the store of existing
capital. But profits are saved because they belong to a few
rich men, who cannot spend half of their income. If each
could spend his entire income very little capital could be saved
at all. This is the use industry makes of the Rothschilds,
Vanderbilts, &c.
But now I ask, on whom in reality do the profits of
these . savings finally devolve ? Who benefits most by the
yearly additions that are made to capital ? It is often said
that the rich grow richer, and the poor poorer as capital
increases. This, of course, would be a serious objection to
the thesis I am defending : that socialism runs counter to
the workman's interest, because it is unfavourable to the
accumulation of capital. But what now are the facts of
the case ? Since 1843 the income of capital has increased
only by one hundred per cent. But, on the other hand, the
amount of capital has increased in the time as much as one
hundred and fifty per cent. Thus the income of capital has
been steadily declining in relation to the growth of capital
itself. But I have not yet touched the crucial point. Let
us put out of sight a few rich men like Vanderbilts,
Rothschilds, Goulds, &c. Now how, I ask, has capital
increased by one hundred and fifty per cent, in fifty years?
Is it by additions to each man's capital, or by the augmenta-
tion of the number of capitalists? Mainly, I say, in the
latter way. The number of capitalists has considerably
increased, as can be seen from the statistics of probate
duties. Capital then has reached its present dimensions,
principally because with the progress of industry and
wealth the proletarians have become so rich that a consider-
able number are enabled yearly to pass over to the body of
capitalists. This then is the effect of the accumulation of
capital. The poor are not poorer, but have benefited
exceedingly by the increase of capital. But the increase 01
VOL. III. h
14G THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
capital was absolutely necessary for the lii'e oi' industry.
It will be easily seen, that the prime condition of increase
of wealth, particularly in newly-opened countries, is the
amassing together of sufficient capital to keep her thousands
of wheels flying, and maintain the din and roar of her
factories. How has capital been increased in America ?
It has increased because her rich men cannot spend their
profits. Not a tenth part of the product of their capital
could possibly be spent by the most extravagant owners.
The rest is saved, and put out as capital, with this result,
that in a hundred years the wages of labour have more than
quadrupled, and that innumerable labourers are becoming
capitalists, renewing the vigour and life of trade, and setting
fresh industries afloat.
But the reader may object, if socialism were once
established, could not such capital be saved by the state,
before the general distribution of the profits ? In this she
might maintain her industries quite as efficiently as can
now be done. This brings me to the central point of this
whole critique. We shall see that the state could not hoard
up capital, and for this one reason, that socialism entails the
decay of industry, and the consequent decline of the profits
ot capital. We shall see that the incentives that now
quicken trade will be altogether wanting in the socialistic
state, and that in the vapid industry that will then ensue
the growth of capital must be impeded. Let us remember
too, that in a living industry the very same process that
impedes the growth, must carry on finally to industrial
decay.
Let me briefly restate the question to be treated. We
have just been treating as a chimerical hypothesis the
division of the entire capital of England. We admitted,
however, that if such a division could be carried out, the
poorer families would be slightly richer than they are under
our present regime. This is quite natural. The levelling
down of the rich man's profits, the sum to be divided
remaining the same naturally entailed a rise elsewhere.
The increase, however, was slight and disappointing. Now
socalism would destroy the interest on capital, and bring all
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 147
salaries to a common level. To keep the salaries of the
entrepreneur at their present level, would entail the accu-
mulation of private capital. This must not be in the Socialistic
State. Salaries must fall to a very low level, and the poor
man's wages accordingly rise. This is the balance on which
socialism works. But now let us notice that the balance
in question rests, as on a fulcrum, on one condition, viz.,
that the sum to be divided is a constant factor. That
condition I must now examine. We shall see that it never
could be fulfilled. We shall see that the extinction of
private capital, and the general levelling of wages for work,
will entail the instant decay of industry, and the consequent
decline of profits and capital.
To what shall we attribute the increase of profits in
the century that is about to close. A century ago the
income of Great Britain was £140,000,000. The labouring
population was then ten millions. To these ten million,
half the income, that is £70,000,000 were annually assigned.
What is the state of labour to-day. Every ten" million
labourers to-day receive not £70,000,000, but £200,000,000.
Let us mark this well. These ten million labourers are
now in receipt of £60,000,000 a year more than if the
whole (not half) of the entire income were divided amongst
them a century ago. These are figures that ought to be
engraven on every mind. They surpass the wildest dreams
of socialism. They proclaim, moreover, an accomplished
fact, whilst socialism is only tentative. Let us examine
this matter closely. To what are we to attribute the
vast increase in our national income? Is it to labour?
Decidedly not. Labour was more skilled two thousand
years ago than it is to-day. The skilled labour of the
ancient Greeks, as evinced, for instance, in the cutting of
gems, will be looked for in vain in the workshops of to-day.
Labour as such is unprogressive. What, then, is the source
of the growth of profits? It is not Labour. It is not Capital.
It is not the Land. The economic factors in the production
of wealth must henceforth be written Land, Labour,
Capital, and Ability. Ability in investing, ability in main-
taining, in extending the range, and perfecting the methods
148 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and deepening the intensity and life of our industries. Ability
is not mere idle genius. It is talent, and tact, and energy,
and prudence strained to the utmost in trade and commerce.
Ability is more than mere skilled labour. One stroke of
ability can reach to thousands. It increases the product of
each man's labour. Skilled labour affects one labourer
alone- One stroke of ability, Cartwright's invention, left
two hundred and fifty thousand men idle, with their
hand looms beside them in the market-place. But ability
employed them and enriched them again. Skilled labour
may teach me to push my barrow, or hold my file, or adjust
the tin sheet in the lamp stamp; but it cannot make
me facilitate the work, and increase the products of
thousands of men. But inventions are barren, and often
destructive when not directed by able men. The ability of
the entrepreneur is of more importance than that of the
inventor. The terrible evils of over-production, that have
merged whole cities in the blackest ruin, are an instance of
what invention may do without the exercise of directive
ability. Let diligence sustain and ability direct the
pace of industry, and then invention is a source of wealth.
England's wealth is fabulous to-day ; but let her keen
business-men depart from her shores, let her ceass to inspire
them with the hope of gain, and her independence and
wealth would decline more rapidly even than they
rose. When trade declined in '91 cheeks grew pale at
the catastrophe that threatened. It is the keen eye of
the entrepreneur that keeps us yearly from such calamities.1
And what has been eliciting the exercise of ability ? The
hope of gain ; of gain proportioned to the worth and work
of one who knows that he is worth more than a hundred
labourers in the manipulation of capital, and the production
of profits.
The man who must live from week to week, who
1 In tin interesting article, ' Le regne del'argcnt,' in the December number
of Les deux Motides, M. Anatome TJeanlieu writes as follows : — ' S'il n'y avait a
la Bourse que des hommes d'affaires, des financiers, des banquiers, les crises
seraient plus rares, et les chutes moins profondes. Ce qui en fait la frequence
Ct la gruvite, t'est le plus souvent 1'intervention du public.'
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 149
receives just what keeps him for the week, and cannot make
capital out what is left, who is sure of the pittance that the
nation allots him, with no overseer to spur his energies, or
with an overseer who is paid like himself, as secure as
himself, as unaffected by loss as himself; will such a man
spend sleepless nights, and toil all day, studying, devising,
planning new modes, and selecting grooves for the industry
he directs ? ' The knowledge,' says professor Walker, ' that
he will gain what is gained, and lose what is lost, is essential
to the temper of a man of business.' This, I repeat, could
alone have induced him to watch with anxiety the tides of
trade, to grasp the opportunities of fitful markets ; and to
propel his industry through dangerous channels, when so
little might have submerged it. Mr. Dale Owen had lived
with the socialists at Nashoba, and he writes thus : —
A plan which remunerates all alike, will, in the present
condition of society, ultimately eliminate from a co-operative
association the skilled, and efficient, and industrious members,
leaving an ineffective and sluggish residue, in whose hands the
expedient will fail both socially and pecuniarily.
And Mrs. Annie Besant, apparently for the moment off
her guard, admits
That the abnormal development of the gold hunger [which
characterizes our present system] will disappear upon the
certainty for each of the means of subsistence. Lat each indi-
vidual feel absolutely secure for his day's subsistence. Lst every
anxiety as to the material wants of the future be swept away,
and the tyranny of pecuniary gain will be broken, and life will
begin to be used in living, and not in struggling for the chance to
live.
I know that the theory I have been propounding is not
in accordance with that noble trust that the socialists evince
in future man. The socialist heart revolts at the idea that
man is moved by the hope of gain. They deny that the
dynamics of the human heart are naturally selfish or
material. They tell us, too, that socialism will come, not
with revolution, but with the evolution of the human
ideal, when selfishness shall have passed away. We can
only say, that such a process is by no means visible in the
150 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
facts and periods of the history of industry. Socialists, like
Mr.Kirkup, affirm that the selfish system is of recent growth.
Evolution then has been working backwards. The poverty
and isolation of the proletarian succeeded to happier feudal
days. The classes then separated more and more. The
labourer sank till he could sink no further. The capitalist
fed him as he fed his horse. He gave him just what kept
him alive, that his hands might not drop whilst he dug the
gold out of the capitalist's industrial gold mine. ' 0 God,'
said Hood, ' that bread should be so dear, and flesh and
blood so cheap.' And if labour has advanced in recent
years, to what are we to refer its progress and power? To
what shall we attribute the power of the trades-unions ? To
the evolution of the philanthropic man ? No. Mr. Howell,
their greatest advocate, informs us that trades-unionism is
now recognised in the land solely on account of its ' innate
strength.'
I have dwelt on this, not because it is worth considering
on its own ground, but because the socialists have been so
tenacious in offering their idea of the ' unselfish man.'
Listen to this, from Mr. Blatchford's volume on Merrie
England. He speaks of those who think men selfish :—
These flaws [i.e., the opinions we have been propounding]
are due to the fact that the founders and upholders of the system
of grab and greed are men who have never possessed either the
capacity or the opportunity for studying human nature. Mere
bookmen, schoolmen, logic-choppers, and business men can be
no authorities on human nature. The great authorities on human
nature are the poets, the novelists, and the artists . . . The only
books for the study of human nature are the works of men like
Shakspere, Hugo, Cervantes, and Sterne, and others who have
studied in that school.
The day is coming, therefore, when poets and artists
shall direct our industries. Business men know nothing of
the tendencies and wiles of buyers and sellers. Let poets
and artists, therefore, rule our factories, our imports and
exports, our markets and salehouses ; let them dream their
day-dreams in our banks and exchanges ; let Hamlet, and
Don Quixote, and The Muleteer replace our weekly market
journals and financial reviews. ' Then shall the eyes of the
blind be opened.'
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 151
Let us now inquire what are the incentives which the
socialists substitute for the hope of gain. Mrs. Annie Besant
enumerates them thus — (1) The starvation that would follow
on the cessation of labour ; (2) the determination of our
fellow-workers not to allow us to shirk our work ; (3) the
joy in creative work, the longing to improve, the eagerness
to win social approval, the instinct of benevolence, &c. Let
us review them briefly. But first let me say that these
incentives are supposed to stimulate not only ability, but
also the work of the ordinary labourer.
The first incentive I may instantly dismiss with this one
remark, that we are not concerned with the existence of
industry, but with its maturity, pace, and growth. We are
not questioning the cessation of labour, but only its decline.
Both managers and men may cling on to their employment,
and receive the wages appointed by the state; but this is
not the point at issue. The work of the dilettante may
keep him from starvation. But what we ask is this — what
incentive has the socialist to offer to that keen, unresting,
untiring energy that has brought our industry to its present
state ?
The second incentive is the eye of our companions.
Life shall become a system of mere universal espionage.
Will such a system be welcome to mankind? It were
better to be poor, most men would reply, than that every
man should be my keeper.
Tanti tibi non sit opaci,
Oninis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum
Ut somno careas, ponendaque praemia sumas
Tristis, et a magno semper timearis amico.1
But let us consider the case as it stands. Two men are
working at the same lathe ; they both earn a pound a week.
A idles most of his time. He has a right only to ten
shillings a week ; but the state pays him his full wages. It
is evident that the divide will suffer by this. Now, to what
extent is B injured ? To the one seventy-six-millionth
of a pound. The same objection might be put also in
1 Juvenal, Sat.
152 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
another form — will it not be a man's own interest to work
his best? His idleness ultimately recoils upon himself.
The profits to be divided will not be so large. The answer
is the same as in the last case. If a man were to live to
the age of sixty, and during most of that time, were to
neglect his work, spending his time drinking and sleeping ;
to what extent would he suffer in the end ? The calcula-
tion is very simple. He would lose about the one forty-
thousandth of a pound, or the one-hundred-and-sixtieth part
of a penny. Such trivial effects are not likely to stimulate
either his neighbour's vigilance or his own energies. Besides,
does he not know that numerous workmen throughout the
country are wasting their time and receiving money, and
shall he strive to do justice to the nation, whilst others
are living at his expense?
Thirdly, there are, the joy in creative work, the longing
to improve, the eagerness for social honours, the instinct
of benevolence, &c. The first two of these could never
maintain or push on our industries. They might influence
a race of poets and artists, but they have little effect on the
mass of labourers. Social honours are much more palpable.
What these honours are to be is not yet decided. They
will, probably, resemble the honours of Nashoba, i.e., 'the
very good, good, indifferent, and bad,' indicated by the colour
of the ribbon on the head ; such honours as these have been
generally adopted in our infant schools, and are found to
work very effectually. Even grown-up men have set much
value on the medals of the Humane Society ; but if twenty
millions were to receive them yearly they would scarcely
incite us to deeds of heroism. I have already spoken of the
instinct of benevolence. These then are the incentives that
the socialists offer for the maintenance and progress of our
industries. We can scarcely regard them as very effectual.
Let me sum up briefly what I have been saying on the
benefits we may expect from socialism. The present system
of the market entails fixed wages for the proletarian, which,
taken from the varying product of industry, leaves for the
capitalist a varying and uncertain profit. In the socialistic
state the case is reversed. Fixed wages for the manager,
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 153
but a varying divide for the mass of labourers, from a
very, changeable and uncertain product, that is supposed
to be kept at its present level by certain sentimental
stimuli, that for the mass of men are wholly ineffectual,
and for all are necessarily short-lived.
I come now to a matter that has probably suggested
itself to the reader already. I have been endeavouring
to show, that socialism entails the decay of industry,
from want of appropriate and adequate incentives. But
does not the existence of co-operative industries portray
in miniature what might be expected from the socialistic
state ? The principles and results of both are the same ; but
co-operative industries continue to exist, and afford their
shareholders an annual divide. I am not now speaking of
joint stock companies, with a few capitalists, and a host of
efficient and well-paid managers. I speak, for instance, of
co-operative stores, where the entepreneur is almost dis-
pensed with. I answer, the cases are very different. For
we may store up as capital whatever we reap from co-
operative industries, and put it out at premium, which
could not be done in the socialistic state. But, as a matter
of fact, what has been the history of co-operative industries?
Have they succeeded where they have been tried? We
can answer only by appealing to facts. The co-operative
cotton mills that were started in England either failed or
were converted into joint stock companies. The co-
operative stores that were started in France, after the
revolution of '48 were an utter failure. In Switzerland,
where everything favoured their adoption, the people never
took kindly to them. Even joint stock companies with
a number of capitalists, where no one has heavy stakes to
risk, are not likely to advance like private concerns. Studnetz
informs us that, in 1878, he found the mills of New York
all idle, and those of Philadelphia working away; and he
attributes the fact to this alone, that the former were under
joint stock companies, but the latter belonged to private
owners. It will be readily seen that the co-operation of
which I have been speaking has nothing to do with that
co-operation which is advocated in agricultural matters,
154 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a system that has proved of use to farmers here and
elsewhere.
I shall just refer to one other matter. The reader may say
I have treated this question as if socialism demanded a
number of centres; as if England, France, Germany, &c.,
were each to possess its own treasury. But the aims of
socialism may be wider than this. If nations were linked
one to another, and the whole world were but one treasury,
would not depressions of trade in a particular centre be
counteracted by a proportional rise in another department
of the universal industry, as surface depressions in particular
places are followed by the upheaval of hills elsewhere.
Thus the fluctuations of local markets would have no effect
in the final divide. Now, the reader will admit that the
system of industry here advocated is certainly one of the
impossible ideals of which I spoke in the beginning of this
paper. But let us examine it for what it is worth. I say
that the objection that has just been offered embodies a
serious economic fallacy, a fallacy that assumes many
different shapes throughout the course of economic science.
The fallacious principle involved is this — that any depres-
sion in a particular industry, carried through the easy
channels of commerce in a perfectly adjusted organic system,
is necessarily followed by a rise elsewhere. The principle
means that capital and profits are a constant quantity, and
that, consequently, whatever is lost to a particular market
is gained by another, as a matter of course. I might call it
the fallacy of the ' profit fund,' from its close resemblance to
'the ' wages fund.' Now, I say profits are not a constant
quantity. They are capable of growth and diminution. They
are more unstable than capital itself. We know very
well that the failure of an industry in a particular place will
often occasion its rise elsewhere, as the Lancashire cotton
famine some years ago stimulated to a very large extent the
growth of cotton in India, Egypt, and Brazil. But I fail to
see why the economic effects of over-population or of over-
production of market goods is bound to enrich a market
anywhere. Products often have a limited market, inside
of which alone they can sell. The surplus supply cannot be
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 155
transferred. In a case like this over-production is necessarily
a loss. A case like this may easily entail the general collapse
of trade and commerce. Now, the want of incentives is of
such a kind ; where incentives are not adequate, industry
must flag. "We must also remember that industry does not
right itself. If equilibrium is ever established, it is secured
by artificial means, by positive interference on the part of
the manager. But such interference is often useless, and
often it is quite impossible. We sometimes unconsciously
touch a spring that sets markets heaving all over the world,
for the springs of commerce are very hidden, and often
utterly out of our control. In 1885 it was impossible to tell
why trade was depressed in 1882. Mr. Giffen could only
conjecture the cause. He said it was probably due to the
fact that the demand for gold was very great, and the supply
was so small, after the enormous output of that metal that
followed the Australian and Californian discoveries.
I say then that we have no reason to expect, that the
centralization of the world's industry will ensure the
stability of profits and salaries. On the contrary, I can
easily retort, that no security may be hoped for -in a system
where the least convulsion in any locality would thrill
through every fibre of our industry, and set markets heaving
in the remotest places.
There are many points on which I have not touched,
that bear down intimately on the question in hand. But we
must leave them aside for the present. I have shown, I
hope, that socialism would not favour the production of
wealth ; that labour would suffer by such a system ; that
all that socialism might have attempted in the past, has
been secured on quite other lines ; that the same success
could not have been reaped had socialism been the national
system ; that, therefore, we have nothing to hope for from
its adoption, but a very great deal to fear.
The reader may ask, is there no redress, then, for our
present evils? I answer that socialism could offer none.
But the future is full of hope for labour. It is only recently
that the rights of labour have been really recognised.
Capitalists see that it is more in accordance with their own
156 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
interests to give to labour what is due to it. The system
that Macaulay described so vividly is already passing or passed
away, and it has come to this that labour is in a position to
exercise its rights, and capital is not in a position to ignore
them. Political economy is an altered science, for the
school of laissez-faire is dead. ' It needs,' says Mr. Howell,
' no prophet to foretell that human labour will not in the
future be divorced from the man-worker, and be treated as
a mere commodity like pigs or potatoes, corn or cabbage, as
was the tendency of most writers, more than a generation
ago.'
Let us hope that in the future we may see accomplished
what the Church's voice has been ever advocating, the
recognition of our common destiny, to be reached by many
diverse paths.
M. CRONIN, D.D., M.A.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER
AT the beginning and at the end of Dante's life, Bologna
produced two poets closely connected with the singer
of the Divine Comedy : Guido Guinicelli, and Graziolo de'
Bambaglioli. The one was as the morning star to the sun,
the other a fainter light just visible in its setting. Both,
like Dante, were exiles, and like him solaced their banishment
with song ; Guido Guinicelli, Dante's master and father in
poetic art, was exiled for his devotion to the Empire ;
Graziolo de' Bambaglioli, his earliest apologist, and almost
his first commentator, for his adherence to the party of the
Church.
Graziolo, or Bonagrazia, de' Bambaglioli was born about
1291, of an old Bolognese family. His father was a wealthy
citizen who had held various offices under the Eepublic, and
seems to have possessed estates in the country. Our poet
became a notary, and rose to considerable eminence and
authority in the Guelph party of Bologna ; and, in July,
1321, he was elected Chancellor of the Commune, at a
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 157
peculiarly critical time when a revolution had violently
expelled Homeo de' Pepoli (a rich usurer, who had become
practically lord of the city), and had established a new form
of government, in many respects resembling the famous
popular constitution of the Florentine Republic, with its
Priors of the Arts and its ' Gonfaloniere di Giustizia.' Two
months later, on September 14th, Dante died at Eavenna.
The poet of a renovated Empire and a purified Church had
passed away upon the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross,
which he represents in his poem as the connecting band with
which Christ had united the two.
It was while Chancellor of Bologna that Ser Graziolo
wrote the first of his two great works that still remain to
us, his commentary upon the Inferno. Dante's writings,
perhaps, excited even greater interest in Bologna than else-
where, although in the Inferno he had assailed the moral
character of its citizens and treated its renowned University
with scant courtesy. His lyrics were certainly known and
sung there before their author's exile. In the early days of
his banishment Dante had probably been a well-known
figure in the city, before the disturbance of 1306 hounded
the exiles out of Bologna too. Towards the end of his life
those charming pastoral letters in Latin hexameters which
he interchanged with Giovanni del Virgilio, a young lecturer
of the university, show that there was a cultured Bolognese
circle who eagerly read the Divine Comedy, as its cantos
appeared ; and that the city would gladly have bestowed the
laurel crown upon its author. But, above all, the De
Monarchia must have appealed strongly to the Bologna
University, which in spite of the Guelphic politics of the
Commune remained in theory ardently Ghibelline and
imperialist, and from whose jurists the emperors had often,
in times past, applied for confirmation of their pretended
rights over the Italian cities.
The conflict between the Pope and Ludwig of Bavaria,
following soon after Dante's death, increased the interest
taken in his writings, and added the stimulus of a burning
political question. Boccaccio tells us that the Imperialists
used arguments from the De Monarchia in support of
158 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Ludwig's pretensions, and that the book, which until then
was little known, became very famous. Calumniators and
detractors now arose. Antonio Pucci, a Florentine poet,
who wrote nearly half a century later, declares that in his
days the Pope and the cardinals would have been among
the foremost champions of Dante's reputation. But at the
time things were not so obvious. Not only did such free
lances as the poet Cecco d' Ascoli sharpen their tongues
against him, but even the official clerical party in Bologna
fiercely assailed Dante's orthodoxy and denounced his works
as heretical, both from the De Monarchia and from certain
passages in the Inferno. A Dominican friar from Rimini,
Fra Guido Vernani, made himself their spokesman. "With
Escalus, ' we shall find this friar a notable fellow,' although
nothing seems known of him except his extraordinary attack
upon the memory of the divine poet. De Potestate sumini
Pontificis et de reprobatione Monarchiae compositae a Dante
AUgherio, is the title given by the Dominican to this
remarkable production, which he dedicates to ' his well-
beloved son, Graziolo de' Bambaglioli, Chancellor of the
noble Commune of Bologna,' probably as one of the leading
Guelph politicians of Bologna, distinguished alike for his
undoubted orthodoxy and for his enthusiastic admiration of
Dante. In his exordium, Fra Guido represents Dante's
works as a growing danger to the faith, as a vessel lovely to
look upon, but containing cruel and pestilent poison. The
poet, according to him, is an agent of the father of lies, a
fantastic and verbose sophist, who, by his alluring eloquence
and sweet siren strains, by uniting the philosophy of
Boethius to his own poetical imaginations and fictions, and
combining paganism with theology, is deluding 'not only the
weaker brethren, but even studious and learned persons.
Dismissing Dante's other works with contempt, this daring
friar proceeds confidently to make manifest the worthlessness
of the treatise on the Monarchy, from which attempt he
trusts that Ser Graziolo will derive much spiritual profit
and edification : —
This then do I send to thee, well-beloved son, in order that
thy intellect clear by nature and acute by divine grace, eager in
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 159
the investigation of truth, as far as the great affairs committed to
thee allow, whilst studious of the beauties of this man's work, may
choose and love what is useful, reject what is false, curtail the
superfluous, and avoid the useless and harmful.
It must be admitted that the friar sometimes manages to
score rather heavily off the poet, especially where he answers
two of Dante's favourite arguments about the divine appro-
bation of the Empire. Thus, when Dante declares that
Christ approved the empire of Caesar when He willed to be
born under the edict of Augustus, the friar answers that it
would follow from this line of argument that the devil acted
justly in tempting Christ, and Judas by betraying Him, the
Jews by crucifying Him with their tongues, the soldiers
when they scourged Him, and Pilate when he condemned
Him to death ; for Christ willed to be in their power, and
was offered up because it was His will. Again, Dante argues
that, if the Eoman Empire did not exist by right, the sin of
Adam was not punished in Christ, and that the judgment of
Pilate must have been the sentence of a regular judge under
the Emperor, who had universal authority over all mankind.
Fra Guido answers that this is mere nonsense, for the
punishment of original sin cannot possibly be subject to
the power of any earthly judge, or else such a judge might
lawfully put to death the new-born child.
Fra Guide's dedication clearly implies that Ser Graziolo
was known to be engaged upon a commentary on the divine
poet ; and it was probably in answer to this challenge that
Graziolo produced the work, which still in part remains to
mark its author as the first Catholic apologist for Dante,
the first in the long line of writers from Bellarmine to
Hettinger and Cornoldi, who have written from the
essentially Catholic point of view, to show the true
relationship of the Church towards her greatest poet.
The key-note to the intention of Graziolo's commentary
is struck in the passage where he explains Dante's treat-
ment of the suicides : Credo tamen auctorem praefatum
tanquam fidelem Catholicum omni prudentia et scientia
clarum, suo tenuisse judicio quod ecclesia sancta tenet : ' I
believe that our author as a faithful Catholic held what holy
160 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Church holds.' This commentary first appeared about three
years after Dante's death. It became very famous ; contem-
porary, and even later commentators quoted and borrowed
from it. The author of the Ottimo Commento, generally
called the Ottimo, who wrote about ten years later, in 1334,
twice quotes Ser Graziolo as a defender of Dante's orthodoxy,
although he himself holds that there is no need of any
such defence, and that the Paradiso in itself contains a
sufficient answer to any accusation of heresy. Already in
1334, theories casting doubt upon Dante's Catholicity were
regarded by the poet's best commentators as mere antiquated
curiosities.
Ser Graziolo's commentary has come down to us in an
early Italian translation, and in a very fragmentary version
of the original Latin. The former was published by Lord
Vernon, in 1848 ; the latter was first edited by Professor
A. Fiammazzo, in 1892. 1 It is mainly its position in the
history of the literary study of the Divine Comedy which
gives this commentary its interest, and invests it \\ith
charm. It gives us, about certain special points, the opinion
of one who was perhaps Dante's first commentator, and who
may even, like Pietro Alighieri and the Ottimo, have been
in personal contact with the divine singer. It is clearly
Graziolo's own enthusiastic admiration for Dante, and the
resulting desire to defend his hero from all detractors, that
is the prime object of his undertaking. His generous proem,
full of genuine enthusiasm, will find an echo in the heart of
every loving student of Dante : —
Although the unsearchable Providence of God hath made
many men blessed with prudence and virtue, yet before all hath
it put Dante Alighieri, a man of noble and profound wisdom, true
teacher of philosophy and lofty poet, the axithor of this marvellous,
singular and most sapient work. It hath made him a shining
light of spiritual felicity and of knowledge to the people and
cities of the world, in order that every science, whether of
heavenly or of earthly things, should be amply gathered up in this
public and famous champion of prudence, and through him be
1 Fiammazzo, // Commento air Inferno di Graziolo de'Bambaglioli, Udine,
1892. Cf. also Rocca, JH Alcimi Commciiti del'.a D.C. composti nci primi rent' anni
dojjo la morte di Dautc, Firenze, 1891.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 161
made manifest to the desires of men in witness of the Divine
Wisdom ; so that, by the new sweetness and universal matter of
his song, he should draw the souls of his hearers to self-knowledge,
and that, raised above earthly desires, they should come to know
not only the beauties of this great author, but should attain to
still higher grades of knowledge. To him can be applied the
text in Ecclesiasticus : ' The great Lord will fill him with the
spirit of understanding, and he will pour forth the words of his
wisdom as showers.' And of him can be expounded the writing
of Ezechiel : ' A large eagle with great wings, long-limbed, full of
feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and took away the
marrow of the cedar ; he cropt off the top of the twigs thereof,
and carried it away into the land of Chanaan.'
Certainly this comparison would have delighted the
heart of Dante, finding himself likened to the emblem of his
universal Roman monarchy, the Bird of God, the sacrosanct
sign, whose praises he had sung in the sixth Canto of the
Paradiso. It is to be devoutly hoped that a copy of this
work penetrated into the Dominican Convent of Eimini,
and was carefully studied by Fra Guide Vernani.
Throughout his commentary Ser Graziolo rather dis-
regards the general allegorical meaning, that splendid but
difficult field upon which the Ottimo, and, later in the
century, Benvenuto da Imola, were to do such admirable
work. He is strong upon the personal aspect of the poem.
According to him, the sleep that Dante describes in the first
Canto is the poet's own sinful life ; he had wandered from
the way of truth, and was stained with luxury, pride, and
avarice. Virgil represents Reason ; he appears in order to
lead Dante to true knowledge, to awaken his conscience,
and so raise him from vice and dispose him to virtue.
Graziolo seems likewise to distinguish between a literal and
an allegorical Beatrice; in the one sense, she is some supreme
virtue, summa virtus ; and in the other, the noble soul of
Lady Beatrice, anima generosa dominae Beatricis. True
to his intention of, above all, defending Dante's orthodoxy,
Graziolo manages to very much tone down the terrible
and bitter words addressed to Pope Nicholas III.,1 and
turns away Dante's shaft from the Papacy to strike the
1 Inferno xix.
VOL. III. I*
1(V2 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
great and mighty of the world in general. In comment-
ing upon the famous and much-disputed passage : Colui
che fece per vitiate il gran rifiuto,1 ' He who made
through cowardice the great refusal,' Graziolo admits that
St. Celestine V. is the person meant, but tries to interpret
the passage so as to defend both St. Celestine and his
successor : ' Through the carefulness and sagacity of Pope
Boniface, he renounced the papacy.' It was a far easier
matter to prove Dante's complete orthodoxy on the two
points which his enemies had specially seized upon as
heretical ; the one in connection with the power and influ-
ence of fortune, which was supposed to involve a denial
of the possession of free will ;2 and the other on the
fate of the suicides whose souls were apparently never
to be reunited to their bodies,8 which was represented
as opposed to the resurrection of the body. In neither
case did the hostile critics think it worth while to look
beyond the special passages to the Cantos in which these
two sublime Catholic doctrines are so fully and splendidly
treated ; and Graziolo, instead of pointing out the absurdity
and triviality of such objections, solemnly protests his con-
viction that the poet adhered to the Church's doctrine upon
these and all other subjects, and then enters into a rather
long and dreary digression upon each. It does not -even
occur to him that Dante's treatment of the suicides is
merely a fine poetical fiction; but he regards it as a meta-
phorical way of speaking, and thinks that perhaps the poet
only meant that there is no remedy for this sin of despair,
so as to give men a terrible warning against cutting them-
selves off from the hope of divine mercy by committing
suicide.
Perhaps, of all the problems arising out of the Divine
Comedy ; not one has proved so incapable of certain solution
as that most mysterious prophecy uttered at the beginning
of the poem, of the coming of a Deliverer, the Veltro or grey-
hound, who is to be the salvation of Italy, and to hunt the
horrible she-wolf back to hell. Hardly two critics are in
* Iufn-Ho iii. a Inferno vii. :< Inferno xiii.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 163
complete agreement as to what Dante really meant by this
prophecy, which in slightly varied forms is repeated several
times in the course of the poem ; and the fancies of modern
commentators have run riot in suggesting fresh and impos-
sible interpretations of the wolf and his mysterious destroyer
The position of Ser Graziolo at the very beginning of the
critical study of the Divine Comedy gives peculiar interest
to his interpretation of the question. For him the wolf is
cupidity, radix omnium malorum, and he sees no political
meaning in the matter. He mentions that even then a great
variety of views was held upon the Veltro, but declares that
it ought certainly to be understood in two ways — in a divine
sense and in a human sense, both of which he works out in
detail. In the former, this Veltro refers to the coming of the
Son of God at the last judgment ; in the latter, the Veltro is
some Pope or Emperor, or some other hero who will arise by
the influence of the heavens, under whose wise and just rule
universal peace will be established, and the human race will
again turn to virtue and truth. And Ser Graziolo, in support
of his view, quotes the famous canzone or ode which Dante
wrote in exile, commencing with the line : —
Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute.
'Three ladies have come around my heart.' These three
mystic ladies are Kighteousness, Generosity, and Temper-
ance ; exiles too, they appear to Dante in his banishment,
and assure him that, although the virtues have been all
expelled from men's hearts, yet they are not dead, and that
a nobler age is to come in which the sacred darts of love
will again shine brightly amongst men : —
We to the eternal rock may turn ;
For, be we now sore driven,
We yet shall live, and yet shall find a race
Who with this dart shall each dark stain efface.1
It was in this canzone, so loved by Graziolo, that Dante
exulting in these noble spiritual companions in misfortune,
1 Plumptre's translation.
164 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
had uttered the sentence which strikes the key-note of his
life :—
L'esilio che m'e dato onor mi tegno.
'I hold my exile as an honour.' And Dante's defender
and commentator was now to experience the same fate.
Bologna lay restlessly beneath the strong hand of
Cardinal Bertrando del Poggetto, who had been sent into
Italy by Pope John XXII., in 1326, as Papal Legate to
defend Tuscany and the Komagna against the petty
tyrants who were rising up on all sides. Abusing the
authority committed to him to serve his own ambitious ends,
Bertrando had taken advantage of the alarm and confusion
caused by the Italian expedition of Ludwig of Bavaria to
make himself lord of Bologna and several of the neighbouring
cities. His rule was at first eminently popular; but, em-
bittered by suspicion and carried away by success, he
gradually assumed the part of a typical Italian tyrant, and
by his arrogance and cruelty aroused the fiercest animosity
in the very men who had hailed him with acclamations as
the Church's champion, and the deliverer from the hated
Bavarian Emperor. Amongst other arbitrary acts, he
gained considerable notoriety by a disgraceful attempt to
desecrate Dante's tomb at Eavenna. At last, in 1334, the
Bolognese rose against him. The Cardinal found himself
besieged in the castle he had built to overawe the city, until,
after a blockade of twelve days, he was allowed to escape
under the protection of the Florentines, by virtue of a secret
understanding with the leaders of the Bolognese, who were
anxious to recover their liberties without embroiling them-
selves with the Pope.
The part played by Graziolo in these events was probably
only a passive one ; but, nevertheless, he became involved in
the Cardinal's fall. Through the assistance of the Florentines
a new form of communal government was now established
at Bologna, not without more disturbances, in which the
party that had overthrown the Cardinal drove out their
opponents. It is said that in June, 1334, more than a
thousand Guelphs were thus expelled from Bologna, or sent
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 165
into exile, including nine members of the Bambaglioli
family, and amongst them the Chancellor himself.
Ser Graziolo does not seem to have been one of those who
were violently expelled, but to have pledged himself to obey
the decree of the Commune and remain in banishment. His
paths are hidden in obscurity, but it is probable that he
never returned to his native cit}' . In 1340 there is a record
of money given to the Franciscans for Masses to be said for
the repose of his soul ; and in 1343 he is mentioned as dead
in an application of his son's to the Commune.1
Like his great master Dante, Ser Graziolo in exile turned
to poetry, and with the same noble end : ' To rescue those
who live in this life from their state of misery, and to guide
them to the state of blessedness,' though with immeasurably
slighter powers, and therefore by humbler means. With a
more modern poet, Graziolo might say : —
Of heaven or hell I have no power to sing.
He could not, like Dante, set forth the hideousness of
vice and the beauty of virtue by a sublime vision of the
world beyond the grave. He set himself, therefore, to attain
the same end more simply, by plainly treating of the moral
virtues, of their effects upon human society, and of the
evils resulting from vice ; and so, in his own way, to render
testimony to his Maker : —
A tua eterna lode, alto signore.
This Trattato sopra h Virtu Morali, or Treatise on the
Moral Virtues, which is the work of Graziolo's exile, as the
commentary upon Dante had been the literary product of
his political life, was originally sent by its author, together
with a Latin commentary and a dedicatory letter, to
Bertrando del Balzo, the kinsman of King Robert of Naples.
In this way the treatise became afterwards ascribed to
King Robert himself, under whose name it has more
frequently been published than under that of its real
author. In the dedication Graziolo describes himself as
olim civitatis Bononiae cancellarius, and imitates the
1 Fantuzzi, Notizie degli scrittori Bolognesi, Bologna; 1781.
166 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
epistolary style occasionally employed by Dante : exul
immeritus, humilis. The letter itself is exactly in the
spirit of Hamlet's words : —
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused.
The divine wisdom and clemency, he says, made man
to His own image and likeness, that he should not fust in
pernicious idleness and uselessness, but should use his intel-
lect in speculation, so as to seek and find the truth ; for
this does the Gospel, through St. Matthew, summon the
labourers, whom no man has hired, to work in the vineyard
of the Lord : —
Wherefore I, since no man has hired me to humbly labour or
to hold office in the state, in order to remain no longer in idle
waste of time during this unjust exile which envy prepared for
me, have drawn out this treatise on natural morality from the
approved writings of venerable authors.
The work is divided into three sections, each composed
of a number of sentenze, short Italian stanzas of varying
length and structure. Quadrio called it one of the finest and
wisest of early Italian poems, and, although such praise is
more than excessive, the treatise certainly has great merits.
Before Graziolo, Francesco da Barberino and Dino Compagni
produced somewhat similar works ; but Graziolo at the
outset strikes a higher note, and his opening stanza : —
Amor che muovi '1 ciel per tua virtute,
shows that he had studied Dante's philosophical lyrics, as
well as the Divine Comedy : —
Love, that movest the heaven by Thy power, and by the
\vorking of the stars dost alter all things here below, transfer-
ring kingdoms from state to state and from nation to nation ;
mercifully lend ear, Almighty Lord, and deign to inspire me that
I may make manifest man's virtues and the result of his actions ;
to Thy eternal praise, Lord, for right affections can never be
without Thy potent aid.
In its own modest and humble way, Ser Graziolo's poem
is a supplement to the Purgatorio. The Purgatorio repre-
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 167
sented allegorically the life of man upon earth, striving to
reach the Earthly Paradise in accordance with the moral
and intellectual virtues. Graziolo, therefore, treats of the
virtues which especially pertain to this life, the cardinal
virtues which attain to human reason, and which ' perfect
the intellect and appetite of man according to the capacity of
human nature.' As for Dante in his Purgatorio, so for
Graziolo the whole system of the poem is based upon the
supremacy of free will.1 The Lombard Marco, in Purgatorio,
Canto vi., had exposed the 'admirable evasion' of man's
referring his own misdeeds to the ' enforced obedience of
planetary influence;' and Graziolo, in very similar strains,
asserts the freedom of man's will and his own moral respon-
sibility in spite of the planets. And, just as the Purgatorio
is based upon the universality of love, and the consequent
need of setting love in order, and centres in the doctrine
that love is the cause of every action, so the first part of
Graziolo's Trattato deals with love, starting with that noble
invocation to the Supreme Love that moves the sun and the
stars, and passing thence to love of charity and true friend-
ship. Love and friendship unite all ranks in the common
weal, put an end to strife, open all roads. Through love
the world has peace and the heavens have beauty. Love
exalts the lowly, makes the weak strong. To the state it
gives unity for self-defence. It fills the world with sweet-
ness and nobleness. The true lover, il vero amico, in pros-
perity and in adversity, loves and serves alike, expecting no
reward. There are stern words, too, against ingratitude and
against false friends ; in many passages it is the exile's voice
that is heard, pleading for that charity which opens gates,
dispels civil strife, unites cities, and produces true peace
and happy security.
The second part treats of the four cardinal virtues. It
shows to some extent the influence of Dante's Convito ; but
the treatment is more slight and popular, and they are
throughout considered with an eye to the direction of
conduct in a man who is called upon to deal with politics,
and with special reference to the maintenance of the state,
1 Cf. F. Faleo, Moralinti Italia ni del trecento, Lucca, 1891
168 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and the order and welfare of the commune. It might,
indeed, be described as a practical handbook of the cardinal
virtues in their application to life in an Italian commune of
the fourteenth century. Under Prudence there is a curious
sketch of the duties of an ideal ruler towards his city, his
household, and his subjects. He must curb his own will,
and be ever intent upon the good of the commune ; a very
centre of charity, loving all his subjects in union, and win-
ning their love in return ; affable and pleasant to all, he is a
bond of peace and unity. Especially he must be very careful
as to the behaviour and morality of his own household, and
at once weed out any undesirable member. He is to be
prudent in rewarding and honouring merit, to beware of
flatterers, but be open to receive good counsel from discreet
and trusty friends. Warnings against indulging in plots on
the part of the subject, and against unjust sentences on the
part of the ruler, are followed by general denunciations of
calumniators. Like Dante, Ser Graziolo had known what
it was to suffer injustice,
Through sin of cursed slander's tongue and tooth.
The sentences on Fortitude are indeed applicable to the
poet's own position. In adversity, he says, mental peace
and joyfulness should be cultivated, for sadness is not only
useless, but real spiritual suicide. Leave all vengeance to
heaven, and await the turning of fortune's wheel. The man
of true fortitude will thus experience how honour is gained
in noble suffering : —
Come del bel soffrir s'acquista onore.
What Divine Providence permits is to be sustained with
patience, for such things lead through body's loss to the
eternal felicity of the soul in God :—
Per dar felicitate
Allo spirto che in Dio vive eternale.
There is here almost a faint foretaste of Shakespeare's
sonnet : —
Then, soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store ;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 169
The third, and concluding section treats of the seven
deadly sins, and of the vices and defects of human life. It
must be admitted that our good Graziolo has nothing very
new to tell us upon these themes, and the best and most
poetical passages are those in which he catches an echo
from the Convito or the Divine Comedy. The two final
sentenze are a kind of corollary ; the first laments the malice
of party spirit, and the second finds a cause for this, and for
the resulting ruin of Italy, in the utter selfishness of states
and individuals alike. The common good is neglected; each
looks only to his own gain ; the most zealous partisans will
readily change sides for mercenary considerations; states
are no longer in arms for great causes, but to maintain the
power of individuals.
As he had commenced by invocation of the divine grace
for his poem, so, before closing it, Graziolo gives thanks
that his prayer has been answered, and ends by lifting the
thoughts and desires of his readers from the life to which
these virtues pertain, to that eternal and celestial life on the
way towards which they are a step. The stanza has usually
been omitted from the published editions of the Trattato; but
it is, in its own very humble way, as essential a conclusion
to the whole work as the Paradiso is to the Purgatorio : —
Opra novella, poich' hai dimostrato
Li vitii e le virtu d'umana vita,
Consiglia che ciascun' anzi 1'uscita
Proveggia bene al suo eterno stato ;
Poi renda lode, gratia e reverentia
All' infinita e superna eccellentia,
La qual per pietade
Ti ha spirato per la veritade.
' My little book, since thou hast shown the vices and
virtues of human life, counsel each one before his
death to provide well for his future state. Then render
praise, thanks, and reverence to the infinite and supreme
excellence which in compassion hath inspired thee for the
truth.' There is, perhaps, a faint echo here from the
Convito,1 where the noble soul in the fourth and last period
1 Book iv.
170 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
of life returns to God, and blesses the voyage she has made ;
and Graziolo's accompanying commentary ended in a
similar strain : ' That with the heavenly citizens of the
triumphant and holy Jerusalem we may glory and be at
peace in Him, who is the last end of perfection and glory,
who alone perfectly fulfils and sets at rest all human
desires.' Thus we take leave of one who, although him-
self neither a great poet nor a very profound thinker, yet by
his rectitude and sincerity wins respect in every fragment
of his that remains to us, and who certainly claims con-
siderable interest from his connection with Dante and the
Divine Comedy, at the time of the poet's death and the
beginning of the critical study of his work.
EDMUND G. GARDNER.
[ 171 ]
IRotes anb (Queries
THEOLOGY
MASSES FOB, THE DEAD
KEV. DEAB SIR, — From the answer given with reference to
the 'Dead List ' in the December number of the I. E. KECORD, it
would seem that the November offerings must be looked upon as
honoraria, and that the obligation attached cannot be fulfilled by
saying second Masses when honoraria are already received for
the first.
Now, if the method of division can be taken as determining
whether these offerings are to be regarded as honoraria or dues,
it seems to some and to me that a sound distinction would
regulate the matter. If the offerings are distributed as honoraria
the obligation is the same as for any other honoraria, and, con-
sequently, it is prohibited to attempt to satisfy it by the second
Mass when a stipend has been taken for the first ; but when the
division has been made according to the mode of parochial dues,
then the celebrant is free to discharge his obligation by the
second, as dues are not regarded as honoraria, but part and
parcel of his official endowment or salary. As the question is
important, practical, and subject to diversity of interpretation, I
would be glad to hear more on the matter from the wise and the
learned among your readers.
DUBIUS DUPLICANS.
The readers of the I. E. EECOED will, no doubt, readily
understand our correspondent's point of view when he
insists that this is an important and a practical question.
But we decline to believe that, learned or unlearned, they
will take his estimate of the relevancy or force of the
argument on which he relies. Apart from the taste in
making the distinction, we venture to think that our
correspondent was singularly unfortunate in addressing his
argument to the ' wise and learned ' among our readers.
What are generally known as ' November offerings ' our
172 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
correspondent prefers to describe and regard as ' dues.' We
must confess to a preference for the ordinary designation ;
but the point is quite immaterial. Our correspondent
conveys that the ' November offerings ' are, in his parish,
divided among the parochial clergy after the manner of the
ordinary ' dues.' He seems to think that the custom of his
parish or diocese is universal, and that it should settle
terminology and practice. In both particulars he is in
error. The practice of his parish is not universal ; it can-
not, therefore, settle terminology — still less practice. "We
gather from his letter — (1) that a portion of the November
offerings reaches him ; (2) that there is attached an obliga-
tion to offer a certain number of Masses for those whose
names are on the ' Dead List ' ; (3) that he has sometimes
legitimate permission to duplicate on Sunday ; and (4) that,
without any dispensation, he considers himself justified in
offering his second Mass on Sunday in discharge of one of
these ' November Masses,' though he has already taken a
stipend for his first Mass on that same day. We are
informed that this view is shared by others whom our
correspondent has consulted. For the present, we prefer
to believe that he has misunderstood these theologians.
It is admitted that in accepting his share of the Novem-
ber offerings, he contracts in justice to offer the requisite
number of Masses for the dead. Otherwise, his difficulty,
in case of duplication, could not arise. Now, that obligation
in justice being admitted, it is manifest that our correspon-
dent, if he acted on his own opinion, would take two stipends
on the Sunday on which he celebrates his first Mass for an
ordinary honorarium, and his second in satisfaction of the
obligation arising from the ' November offering. ' He may
call the latter stipend ' part of his dues,' and he may have
come by it by any process of division that ingenuity can
suggest ; it is still a stipend, and usually a good one, with
an obligation in justice attached ; he cannot take two such
when he duplicates ex dispensations.
This is true enough, our correspondent admits, when
there is question of ' honoraria,' but not, he thinks, when
there is question of offerings divided ' after the mode of
NOTES AND QUERIES 173
parochial dues. ' For ' then the celebrant is free to discharge
his obligation by the second Mass, as dues are not regarded
as honoraria, but part of his salary.' We take it that our
correspondent is a curate. Of course, apart from offerings
such as these so-called ' November dues,' the maintenance
that a curate receives from the parish imposes on .him no
obligation regarding the application of his Masses, and,
therefore, does not affect the question of a double stipend.
But, our correspondent has probably heard that a parish
priest, in accepting his dues, contracts in justice to offer
certain Masses pro popido, and, moreover, that a parish
priest, duplicating on Sunday, cannot at one Mass take an
ordinary honorarium, and by the other lawfully satisfy the
obligation of celebrating pro populo. So, too, a curate
duplicating on Sunday, is not justified in taking an ordinary
honorarium for one Mass when he wishes by the other to
satisfy the obligation in justice arising from his ' November
dues.' We assume, of course, that he has not got a
dispensation to take a double stipend.
Our correspondent cannot hope to hear from the ' wise
and learned ' readers of the I. E. RECORD until the March
number appears. Meantime, as the question is ' important
and practical ' from points of view other than his, we have
thought it our duty to illustrate his alleged liberty by
contrasting it with the obligations of his parish priest.
D. MANNIX.
t 174 ]
CORRESPONDENCE
THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH
REV. DEAB SIB, — Whether designedly or otherwise, the
compiler of The Ancient Irish Church has adopted an effectual
method of bringing the present discussion to a close. A tirade
of thirteen pages, with less than half devoted to a defence, such
as it is, and affecting to treat as trivial, whilst ignoring, grave
charges, including breaches of good faith, cannot lay claim to
serious attention.
Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis.
It only remains, accordingly, in dismissing ' this little publi-
cation/ to give typical instances of the errors alluded to at the
end of the letter in the December number.
To show the intelligent use made of the ' works quoted,' the
following is accepted as correct : ' the Brehon Laws assume the
existence of a married as well as an unmarried clergy. They
make reference to two classes of bishops: the "virgin bishop,"
and the "bishop of one wife." The "virgin bishop," if he
lapsed into grievous sin, did not, they say, recover his grade or
pristine perfection, according to some; but the "bishop of one
wife " did, provided he performed his penance within three days '
(pp. 136-7). A reference is given, ' Senchus Mor, i. p. 57.'
Here, as in so many other instances, the compiler has taken
statements upon trust. Had he used his own eyes, as he was
strictly bound to, he would have seen that the Brehon Laws contain
nothing of the kind. To state the matter briefly. The native
Corpus Juris consists of statutes, running commentaries and
verbal glosses. In the MSS., these three are respectively written in
large, medium, and small script, — a lucid arrangement, adopted,
as to Irish and English, in the official edition. Among the four
territorial magnates liable to degradation for malfeasance, the
Law (in large letter) places a stumbling (i.e., incontinent) bishop
(i. pp. 55-56) (The gloss, it has to be remarked in passing, gives
an etymology of stumbling — tuisledach — that is beneath notice.)
Hereupon is the commentary (in medium character, pp. 56-59),
which the compiler mistook, at second or third hand, for the
CORRESPONDENCE 175
Law ! These are the full data, and they prove that the ' objection '
in question was the outcome of ignorance or malice.
Now, for the scholium. This affords internal evidence that
it was composed at a time when married bishops did not exist.
In the (sixth- century) Penitential of Finnian, both the delin-
quents named in the commentary received six years' penance,
and were to be rehabilitated in the seventh year. Whence it
follows that to make one culprit incapacitated for life and restore
another equally guilty after three days' fast never represented an
actual state of things. Equity of the sort was devised for Utopia.
Nor is this all. Once more, as in the case of the St. Gall
Ordo, the proof can be extended and completed by aid of a volume
not on the compiler's list. Another commentary (in medium
hand), treating, inter alia, of punishments and fines to be
imposed for assaults upon bishops and priests, applies the
distinction of ' virgin ' and ' of one wife ' to the two grades
(Brehon Laws, iv, pp. 362-9). By good fortune, however, the
enactments themselves, most probably in the original language,
are extant. They are the (eight) decrees of a Synodis Hibernensis,
and they mention episcopus and presbyter without qualification
(Wasserschleben, Bussordnungen, pp. 140-1).
Thus, neither in the Civil nor in the Canon Law of ancient
Ireland is the existence of a married clergy assumed. Such, no
doubt, existed (down to what time, it is immaterial for the present
purpose to discuss) ; but this falls short toto coelo of proving
that the number was so great as to obtain formal recognition in
the legislation of Church and State. The commentaries, accor.d-
ingly, were purely fantastic, — arising from the misdirected (and
in this case perhaps malicious) ingenuity inveterate in the Brehon
legists.
The value of the Irish testimonies is apparent in another of the
three extracts that profess to be taken directly from the Speckled
Book. This excerpt, containing little more than eight lines, will
be found to present no fewer than eighteen errors, whether of
transcription or press ; whilst, in addition, a clause of nine words
is not rendered in the translation, leaving the English reader to
infer that the native writer did not believe in the Crucifixion
(p. 79) !
Coming to the Latin, one page (37) is adorned with a rescen-
sion and a translation, each equally notable. Qui potestatem
habens, ' who hast the power ; ' adversariis potius maims dantia
176 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
quam resistcntis, ' yielding help to, instead of withstanding the
enemy.' ' Tried by the Dictionaries,' this version, it must be
admitted, ' may claim an acquittal ' : maims dare, to give hands ;
i.e., to yield help to ! At the risk of being taxed with ' hyper-
critical carping,' one is tempted, however, to question whether
this was the sense which Columbanus (the words are from a
Letter of the Saint) learned, in the school of Bangor, to attach
to the expression.
Elsewhere (pp. 201-2), a quotation from the Book of Armagh
has crucem quae erat juxta viam sitam and interrogavit qua
morte abierat. The two editions referred to have the emenda-
tions sita and obierat. The compiler, it may be, judges these
' recensional ' details to be erroneous.
In the matter of ' the early hymnology of the Irish ' (p. 163),
the compiler is a veritable pundit. The severe rescensions he
approves of remind one of Hebrew without the points. For
example (p. 161) : —
Celebra iuda festa christi gaudia
The scansion and translation are equally striking. ' Eendered
as English prose ' the words, we learn, signify ' Celebrate, O festive
Juda, the joys of Christ.' The humdrum prosody, in vogue before
St. Patrick's Day, A.D. 1897 (when the new Gradus ad Parnassum
burst upon the world), had it that the line was made up of two
parts of five and seven syllables respectively, thus expressed : —
Celebra, Juda, || festa Christi gaudia.
Festa would consequently be accusative plural, not vocative
singular ; agreeing with gaudia, not with Juda : —
Celebrate, 0 Juda, the festal joys of Christ.
These, however, are doubtless some of the results of ' a slender
acquaintance with the study ' (p. 163).
The adoption of Warren's text of the Stowe Missal has resulted
in some drastic liturgical changes. To appreciate them to the
full, and for a reason to be mentioned later on, the rejected
readings of the Eoyal Irish Academy edition are likewise
supplied.
The Ancient Irish Church, Trans. E. I. A.y xxvii.
p. 158. p. 192.
Libera nos christe . . . libera nos [Ps. cliii. 7].
audi nos christe Christe audi nos ;
Christ, deliver us. Christe audi nos ;
Christ, hear us. Christe uudi nos.
CORRESPONDENCE 177
[a]
Trans. E.I. A., xxvii. pp. 193-4.
'To facilitate comparison to some extent, numbers are placed on
the margins.)
Propitius esto, parce nobis, Domine,
Propitius esto, libera nos, Domine.
Ab omni malo, libera nos, Domine.
Per Crucem tuam, libera nos, Domine.
[5] Peccatores, te rogamus, audi nos.
Fill [Filii, MS.] Dei, te rogamus, aiidi nos.
Ut pacem dones, te rogamus, audi nos.
[8] Agne Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere [misserere, MS.] nobis.
[b]
The Ancient Irish Church, p. 160.
(The petitions are here arranged in the usual order ; on the
page quoted from, they are given continuously, ' for the special
satisfaction of scholars.')
Propitius esto. Be propitious.
Parce nobis domine. Spare us 0 Lord.
Propitius esto. Be propitious.
Libera nos, domine, ab Deliver us 0 Lord from all
omni malo. evil.
[5] Libera nos, domine, per Deliver us 0 Lord by thy cross.
crucem tuam.
Libera nos, domine, pec- 0 Lord deliver us sinners,
catores.
Te rogamus audi nos. We beseech Thee hear us.
Filii Dei, te rogamus audi Son of God, we beseech Thee,
nos. hear us.
Ut pacem dones, te roga- We beseech Thee, grant us
mus. peace.
Audi nos, agne Dei. Hear us 0 Lamb of God.
[11] Qui tollis peccata mundi, Who takest away the sins of the
misserere nobis. world, have mercy on us.
Thus by chopping and changing which elude specific classifica-
tion and comparison, ihe eight items of a have been expanded
into eleven in b ; the petition here given in italics being, it will
have been observed, the only one that is left intact. To cap the
climax the five Irish virgins of the Litany are individually invoked
under the title Sancte ! The original, written in a hand as plain
as print, has Sancta in every case,
VOL. in. M
178 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The Canon of the Mass, it consequently appears, is not the
sole part of the Liturgy that has felt the reforming zeal of the
compiler. "Whether his labours in these directions ' in the interest
of the faith' are destined to merit the approval of competent
authority, will doubtless be seen in the ' proposed enlarged edition.'
Meanwhile, to set the seal on his critical judgment and show at
the same time how closely he has kept in touch with the subject,
it has to be recorded that, as far back as ten years ago. Warren
publicly disavowed and apologized for the errors of his transcript ;
leaving that ' for which ' the editor of the Academy edition ' is
himself responsible ' the Textus Receptus !
Quern secutus es errantem, sequere poenitentem.
Still further to show his ' tacit preference,' having stated that
the Stowe Missal, ' in part, is thought ' to date ' about the early
seventh century,' the compiler is careful to add that Warren
refers the whole MS. to the ninth (p. 48 ; cf. p. 61). Yet once
more, however, a volume not found among the ' works quoted '
will enable readers to rightly appraise this attribution. In his
Liturgy and Ritual, etc. (1881), which is on the list, Warren
assigns the two parts to the ninth and tenth centuries respec-
tively (pp. 199, 201). But in his Manuscript Irish Missal, issued
only two short years before (1879), he was himself the first to print
the Preface and Canon of the Stowe Mass. These he heads
(p. 2) : " STOWE MISSAL. (Seventh and ninth centuries.} "
Then, to mark the changes of script, he has " 9th century
hand " and " 7th century hand" alternating four times throughout
(pp. 2-12) ! Such is the rigid consistency of the 'ripe erudition '
(p. 220) that captivated the compiler.
Sooth to say, the conclusion is foregone. A compilation of
sheer diligence, pervaded with such radical defects as have been
set forth (and the list defies exhaustion still), arising from glaring
inability to deal at first hand with the sources and materials of
our Sacred Archaeology can only prejudice the cause it professes
to serve. A weak defence is an aggravated betrayal.
B. MACCAKTHY.
[ 179 ]
DOCUMENTS
THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND
ARCHCONFRATERNITY OF OUR LADY OF COMPASSION
BRIEF OF ERECTION AND STATUTES
LEO XIII., POPE
IN PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE
IT is known to all men that the efforts of Our Apostolic Ministry
have long been specially directed to securing the return to the
centre of Catholic Unity of those Christian nations which the
sad vicissitudes of past centuries have torn from the bosom of
their Mother the Church. Inspired by this ardent desire, We
have been solicitous for the return to religious union of the
Oriental nations, and have devoted unusual care to this task. In
like manner have We cast our eyes upon the illustrious British
nation, which for so many conspicuous reasons has won the
especial good- will of the Eornan Church. Our earnest wishes are
centred upon Great Britain, in union with the wishes of so many
men distinguished by sanctity, learning, and dignity, more
especially St. Paul of the Cross, the religious founder M. Olier,
Father Ignatius Spencer, and Cardinal Wiseman. We have,
indeed, good hope that Our voice, like good seed, may some day
produce the wished-for fruits in that land whose past history is
so glorious, and whose present splendour and civilization dispose
it to follow the highest aims. Yet We are sensible that all
efforts and labours towards this end will be unfruitful without the
powerful help of Divine Grace. This grace We have never
ceased to invoke from the bottom of Our heart, and We have
asked also the prayers of the Universal Church.
But now, desiring to add to these efforts, so that there may
be a more widely extended and more powerful combination of
prayer, We have erected a pious Society, in the form of an Arch-
confraternity, with the object of hastening, chiefly by constant
prayer, the reunion of Great Britain with the Eoman Church.
In this work of charity We have Ourselves, in a manner, led the
way. For two years ago We addressed a Letter to the English
People, in which We treated of the all-important subject of
180 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Christian unity ; and after exhorting to repeated prayer for Our
English brethren, especially the recitation of the Angelical
Salutation, We appended to the Letter a special prayer to the
Most Holy Virgin. This prayer We have enriched with indul-
gences, and have recommended it to the members in the Statutes
or Eules of the recently-erected Archconfraternity, which are
comprised under nine headings. We have placed this Society or
Archconfraternity at St. Sulpice, as a centre for the whole
Catholic world, from which other Confraternities, like streams
from an abundant spring, may flow forth into every part of the
Lord's vineyard.
We have selected the Church of St. Sulpice as the seat of this
Society, both because Prance is near to and in very easy communi-
cation with Great Britain, and also because M. Olier, the founder
of the Congregation of St. Sulpice, together with his disciples,
most earnestly longed for the reconciliation of England with the
Koman Church. Moreover, as the Congregation of St. Sulpice
extends to almost every part of the world, it will be able to
establish other Confraternities of the same kind in every country.
For We are particularly desirous, as, indeed, the object itself
requires, that this pious Society be spread far and wide ; and,
therefore, We earnestly exhort all Catholics, not only in France,
but throughout the world, who are solicitous for the cause of
religion, to enrol their names in this Society.
Wherefore, absolving and holding as absolved, for this present
purpose only, all and every one to whom these Our Letters are
directed, from all sentences of excommunication and interdict,
and all other ecclesiastical sentences, censures, and penalties, in
whatever manner or for whatever cause imposed, if by them
incurred, by Our Apostolic Authority and by virtue of these
present Letters, We erect and constitute, in the Church of
St. Sulpice, an Archconfraternity of prayers and good works for
the return of Great Britain to the Catholic Faith, under the
patronage of Blessed Mary the Sorrowful Virgin. This Arch-
confraternity We place first under the patronage of the great
Mother of God, ' whose dowry England is ; ' and We assign as
its heavenly patrons St. Joseph, the most chaste Spouse of the
Blessed Virgin ; St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, under whose
patronage England is placed : St. Gregory the Great, Pope,1 and
1 St. Gregory was added by the Holy Father after the date of this Brief.
DOCUMENTS 181
St. Augustine, bishop, the thirteenth centenary of whose coming
to England, to bring the Catholic Faith and the means of
salvation, is at this time specially celebrated.
Moreover, by the same authority, We grant in perpetuity to
the presidents, officials, and members of the Archconfraternity,
both present and future, the right and permission to aggregate
other Confraternities of the same object and name, existing in any
part of the Catholic world, observing, however, the form of the
constitution of Our predecessor, Pope Clement VIII., and other
Apostolic Ordinances on this matter ; and to communicate to
them all and every one of the indulgences granted to the
Archconfraternity, and communicable to others.
The following are the indulgences granted : —
The members shall be able to obtain a plenary indulgence—
I. On the day of enrolment in the Archconfraternity.
II. At the point of death.
III. On each of the Feasts of the Most Holy and Sorrowful
Mary, the one during Lent, and the other during the month of
September ; also on the Feasts of St. Joseph, Spouse of the
Blessed Virgin Mary ; of St. Peter the Apostle, of St. Gregory
the Great, Pope ; and of St. Augustine, Bishop, Patron of
England.
IV. On the day of the monthly meeting provided for in
Article IX. of the Statutes or Rules.
Moreover, We grant a partial indulgence of fifty days, to be
obtained once a day by those members who shall piously recite
the Hail Mary, as provided in Article IV. of the Statutes or
Eules of the Archconfraternity.
The members, if they wish, may apply all these indulgences,
both plenary and partial, to the Souls in Purgatory.
And We decree that these Our Letters are and shall remain
firm, valid, and efficacious, and shall have and obtain their
plenary and full effect, and shall be of full avail to all whom they
concern, and may concern in the future, in all respects and in all
circumstances, and shall so be judged and defined in their
premises by all judges whatsoever, ordinary and delegate ; and
that whatsoever shall be attempted, wittingly or unwittingly, by
anyone with any authority otherwise in this matter, shall he null
and void, notwithstanding Apostolic Constitutions and Ordinances,
1&2 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and all others whatsoever, even though deserving of special and
individual mention, of contrary tenor.
Given at St. Peter's in Home, under the Eing of the Fisher-
man, on the twenty-second day of August, 1897, in the twentieth
year of Our Pontificate.
L. *S.
ALOISIUS CAED. MACCHI.
THE STATUTES
The following are the Statutes of the Primary Association of
Prayers and Good Works, under the patronage of Our Lady of
Compassion, for the return of Great Britain to the Catholic
Faith :—
I.
The object of this pious Association is that its members shall
endeavour, by prayers and the exercise of good works, to obtain
from God the return of Great Britain to the Catholic Faith.
n.
To attain the object of this pious Association, the members
shall not be content only with prayers, but shall add to prayers
the practice of good works of every kind, whether of piety or of
charity, such as the frequentation of the Sacraments, the exact
observance of the commands of God and the precepts of the
Church, &c., and the putting in practice of all that may
efficaciously contribute to the end of the Association.
in.
Besides the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the pious Association
venerates as its special protectors St. Joseph ; St. Peter, Prince
of the Apostles, and Patron of England ; St. Gregory the Great,
Pope;1 and St. Augustine, Bishop and Apostle of England.
IV.
To take part in the Association, and to gain the Indulgences
with which it is enriched, the associates shall every day add to
their daily prayers a special prayer — at least a Hail Mary — in
order to obtain from God the conversion for which the Associa-
tion is founded. They are specially exhorted to recite the prayer
to the Most Holy Virgin, for our English brethren, inserted in
the Apostolic Letter Ad Anglos of April 15th, 1895.
1 St. Gregory was added by the Holy Father after the date of the Brief
and of those Statutes.
DOCUMENTS 183
v.
The primary Association has its seat in the city of Paris, at
the church of St. Sulpice ; and it has the right to aggregate any-
other similar Associations which may be erected throughout the
world with the consent of the respective Ordinaries. The
Sulpicians, however, have the right of erecting the Association in
their church wherever they have a residence.
VI.
The President of the Primary Association is the Superior-
General, for the time being, of the Sulpicians, who shall be able
to delegate as his representative a Father approved by him for
the transaction of business. The Presidents of the diocesan
Associations, wherever canonically erected and aggregated to
the primary one, shall be nominated by the respective
Ordinaries.
VII.
The President of the Association may select from among
those members who are specially distinguished for zeal and piety,
Zealators of either sex in such number as he shall judge fitting ;
and these Zelators shall devote themselves, as far as possible to
promoting the welfare of the Association. For this purpose they
shall meet together with the President at certain fixed times of
the year, in order to take such measures as may seem opportune
for the welfare of the Association.
VIII.
It shall be the duty of the Zelators to endeavour, as far as
possible, to increase the number of members, and, with the
authorization of the President, to issue to them the certificate of
enrolment. They must be careful to keep a register of the names
enrolled to be given to the President himself, who shall tran-
scribe the names into the general register of the Association.
IX.
On one Sunday of the month, to be definitely fixed, there
shall be a meeting of the members in every church where the
Association is erected, for the purpose of praying together, if
possible, before the Blessed Sacrament exposed, in order to
implore more efficaciously from God the wished-for return of
Great Britain to the Catholic Church.
The present copy perfectly agrees in all its parts with the
184 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
original of the Statutes preserved in Rome, in the archives of
the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars.
Given at Rome, in the Secretariate of the aforesaid Sacred
Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, on the 30th day of
August, 1897.
L.ifcS.
A. TEOMBETTA, Secretary.
PRAYER FOR THE ENGLISH PEOPLE
The Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and
Regulars by which the Statutes were confirmed, and which was
approved by the Holy Father is then given, and after it the
following prayer from the Apostolic Letter Ad Anglos : —
' 0 Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and our most gentle
Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy
"Dowry," and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee.
By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope, was given
unto the world ; and He has given thee to us that we might
hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive
and accept at the foot of the cross, 0 sorrowful mother. Inter-
cede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one time
Fold they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of
thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in
works, we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with
thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.'
[ 185 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
SONGS OF SIGN. By Mary Stanislaus MacCarthy, O.S.D.,
Sion Hill, Dublin. Dublin : Browne & Nolan, Ltd. 1898.
THIS volume of sacred verses has already been well described
as ' a holy and a beautiful book.' It is impossible to read it
through without acknowledging the genuine religious fervour of
the ' Songs,' and the truly uncommon gifts of imagination and
expression with which their author was endowed. Owing to the
systematic oppression of the Church in these countries, and the
persistent denial of higher education to Catholics, our religious
poetry had not, until recent times, reached a very high standard.
A few gifted writers of the present day have done much, how-
ever, in spite of all obstacles, not the least of which was a want
of appreciation and cultivated taste amongst the public at large?
to fill up this vacant space in Catholic literature. Amongst the
number, limited though it be, Sister M. Stanislaus must be
awarded a very high place. Superficial and half-educated
persons may be inclined to discount religious poetry, and even to
exclude it altogether from the field of interest of the modern
world ; but genuine poets, and men and women of the highest
intellectual cultivation, in all the centuries of the Christian era*
have ever admired religious poetry, and found enjoyment and
happiness in the strains that called them away from earthly
cares. From the humble cell of Hermann Contractus, in a
lonely island in the Lake of Constance, come down to us the
' Salve Eegina ' and the ' Alma Redemptoris Mater.' St. Francis
of Assisi, in an age of feudalism and of chivalry, did not hesitate
to sing of ' Holy Poverty ' as the lady of his heart, his fiancee,
and his spouse. St. Bonaventure, Fra Pacifico, Jacomino da
Verona, and the Blessed Jacopone da Todi, have achieved, in
poetry alone, a glory which the materialistic versifiers of modern
times are never likely to rival. Do we not find religious poetry at
the fountain-head of all the great literatures of the world — English,
German, French, Spanish, Portuguese ? And in our own country
we know how our Irish ancestors devoted the very best of their
genius to that religious poetry which is not yet entirely lost, and
186 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
which Irish scholars of the present day take a pride in rescuing
from oblivion.
It is in this celestial garden that Sister Mary Stanislaus
has culled the precious flowers that grace this handsome volume.
She sings of Him whom she had chosen and loved beyond all
human love, and of His angels and saints, and of the monuments
of His boundless love, His Sacraments, His churches, His
hospitals, His schools. These are the themes of her Songs of
Sion. It is but poor praise to say that the author of such excel-
lent poems would have achieved high repute in the world, if she
had devoted her talents to the worldly aspects of life, or if she
had aimed at more finished literary effect in these religious
verses. They are, as they stand, the outcome of a fervent and
cultivated mind, uttered as occasion called them forth ; and as
such they will remain a lasting monument of honour to ' Sion
Hill,' and the worthy expression of a pure life. We have only to
say, in conclusion, that the publishers have turned out the volume
in perfect style. The paper, type, and binding are all in keeping
with the contents, and reflect the highest credit on Messrs.
Browne & Nolan, Ltd., who have now established themselves as
capable of executing all sorts of artistic work, in binding as well
as in printing.
J. F. H.
BREVIARIUM EOMANUM. Tornaci Nerviorum. Surnptibus
et Typis Soc. S. Joannis Evangelistae. Desclee, Lefebvre
et Soc. Pontif. Editorum. 1897.
HORAE DIURNAE. Same Publishers.
WE have much pleasure in bringing under the notice of our
readers this excellent edition of the Breviary, published by
Messrs. Desclee, Lefebvre & Co., of Tournay. It is in many
respects the most convenient edition of the Breviary that has
come into our hands. Its great advantage is that there is the
least possible turning of leaves, the fine quality of the paper
making it possible for the publishers to print the psalms, versicles,
&c., in many of the special offices, whilst in other breviaries one
is constantly obliged to turn over for them to the common or to
offices of similar feasts in other parts of the Breviary. The
edition which has been sent to us is printed on fine, though
rather thin, India paper, which has the advantage, notwith-
NOTICES OF BOOKS 187
standing its slender leaf, of being perfectly opaque. It is bound
in black, flexible Morocco, with gilt edges and round corners.
It seems to us excellent value for £1 16s. 2d. Messrs. Desclee,
Lefebvre & Co., have besides, a large stock of more expensive
breviaries ; but for practical use, we believe this is the one that
is most in demand.
The Horae Diurnae, which costs 6s. 9^., has the same charac-
teristics as the Breviary ; but, besides the ordinary contents of
the Horae, it has, at the end, the prayers of the priest before and
after Mass, before and after confession, together with some most
useful excerpts from the Koman Eitual, such as the method of
administering Holy Communion to the sick, the rite of Extreme
Unction, the ' Benedictio Infirmi,' the ' Benedictio Eosariorum
B. M. V.,' the ' Forma Brevior Benedicendi et imponendi Scapulare
B. M. V. de Monte Carmelo,' Benedictio Imaginis vel Numis-
matis,' ' Benedictio Domorum.' ' Benedictio ad Omnia.' This
supplementary part will, we have no doubt, be found very useful.
We should mention that the Irish proper is included in both
Breviary and 'Horae ' at the prices mentioned ,
J. F. H.
INSTITUTIONS s THEOLOGIAE DOGMATICAE. Auctore E.P. J.
Herrmann, Congr. SS. Eedemptoris. 3 vols., of about
650 pages each. Eome, Cuggiani. Vico della Pace, 35.
Bureaux de la Sainte-Famille a Antony, Seine, France,
1897. 12i francs.
THE Bishop of Malaga, in an official paper, which appeared
on the 16th of June, 1897, wrote : —
' The theology of Father Herrmann is a complete work of its
kind. His method, his clearness, and the great purity of his
doctrine . . . makes his work more adapted for a class-book than
any we know. A student may with the greatest facility make
the contents his own ; and whoever does so can rest assured that
he has acquired the knowledge most necessary for our times, while
he enters at the same time on the road opened to us by the great
restorer of theological studies, the great Pontiff, Leo XIII.'
The Holy Father himself, through his Eminence Cardinal
Rompolla, wrote to the author : —
' Multum gavisus est de amore ac diuturno et frugifero
studio, quo animum applicuisti ad exponendas mentibusque
alte inserendas doctrinas Angelici Doctoris Thomae et
188 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
S. Doctoris Alphonsi : quas ipse Pontifex doctrinas memorandis
commendarat documentis. Id quoque singulariter ei gratum
accidit quod te in veritati defensionem, tanta haurire subsidia
ex actis concilii vaticani et ex Litteris suis encyclicis.'
The Revue Ecclcsiastique de Metz points out that Father
Herrmann has really given us something new. We all know
St. Alphonsus as universal master in moral theology ; but how
few there are who realize that he has written much on the
dogmas of our holy religion. He popularized St. Thomas, adding
at the same time, in many questions both practical and specu-
lative, the weight of his own authority, which certainly counts
for something since he too is Doctor of the Church. ' In hisce
exarandis institutionibus [says the author] Ducem et Magistrum
S. Thomam sequi conatus sum.' He has even kept his word
as far as the limits of a compendium allowed. He adds : —
1 Propositum etiam mihi fuit, ut, praeter Doctorem angelicum,
sanctum quoque Doctorem Alphonsum de Liguorio in Ducem et
Magistrum mihi assumerem, eo nomine (verba sunt SS. D.N.
Leo PP. XIII.) quod eum sanctus auctor saepe in scriptis suis
angeli scholarum doctrinam se sequutum fuisse glorietur; ex
hujusmodi recentioris Ecclesiae Doctoris erga ilium obsequio
nova S. Thomae doctrinae laus accedat et gloria.'
At page 656, vol i., we find a long list of St. Alphonsus'
dogmatic works, and these are referred to in the Breve Concess.
tituli Doctoris, die 7, 1871, in which Pius IX. says : —
' Nullum esse vel nostrorum temporum errorem qui, maxima
saltern ex parte, non sit ab Alphonso refutatus.'
Moreover St. Alphonsus examined thoroughly many difficult
questions discussed by the older theologians, and drew from his
examination conclusions quite his own. Thus, for example, in
the question : how we are to conciliate grace and liberty, he has
now his own system. In vol. ii., cap. iv., p. 429, under heading
Systema Caiholica, we have systema Thomistarum, Auguistinia-
norum, Molinistarum, Conquistarum et Systema S. Alphonsi de
Liguori. In future in discussions on this subject this last system
must have its place. Light is often thrown on obscure passages
in St. Thomas by the teaching of St. Alphonsus. Hence, in
uniting these two Doctors, the author has given us what is both
new and useful. Useful, for the Breve cited above continues : —
' Hujus Doctoris libros, commentaria, opuscula, opera denique
omnia, ut aliorum Ecclesiae Doctorum, non modo privatim, sed
NOTICES OF BOOKS 189
publics in gyrnnasiis, Academiis, Scholis, Collegiis, Lectionibus,
Sermonibus, omnibusque aliis ecclesiasticis studiis . . . citari,
proferri, atque, cum res postulaverit, volumus et decernimus.'
Father Herrmann has given effect to this mandate of the
Holy See in his Institutiones. He has done for dogmatic
theology, as far as the matter permits, what Mare and Aertnys
have done in moral theology ; and for this he deserves the thanks
of both students and professors.
The universal praise with which this work has been received,
and the high place which has been assigned to it as a manual,
has led us to examine it with particular care. We have found it
complete as to matter, wonderfully clear in diction, and methodic
throughout. The schemas which precede the different tracts give
the student a bird's-eye view of what is before him. Each part
therein indicated is taken up separately, and so logically and
clearly subdivided that the task of learning is made compara-
tively easy. This is enhanced by the perfect manner in which the
book is printed. By a careful selection of type, the propositions,
divisions, proofs, and objections immediately catch the eye and
keep the memory. Moreover, that which every student should
know is in bold type, while certain questions which are useful,
but not necessary, or aspects of questions which the more talented
students will study and develope with profit, are put in smaller
type. To this end he gives at the beginning of each tract auc tores
consukndi. Full room is left to professor for further development
of doctrine.
We do not venture to say that this manual is perfect, but we
are of opinion that in most respects it is excellent, and that
professors will soon see that Father Herrmann has profited of
his long experience of the needs and capabilities of students.1
And now we wish to go a step further, and say that we believe
this work to be a most useful hand-book for priests on the mis-
sion. Its conciseness, clearness, and order make it admirable
for dogmatic instructions. The schemas, of which we have
already spoken, the indices of each volume, and especially the
two general indices at the end of the third volume, are excellent,
1 In 'a second edition which is sure to be soon called for, the author might
consider whether it would not be better to unite what he has written, de Fontilits
Firlei, vol. i., Nos. 10 and 17, and the fuller treatment, Pars, iii., cap. i. and ii.,
of Scripture and Tradition. We think also that in some places the texts taken
from St. Alphonsus might have been more to the point.
190 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
one Index Berum notabilium; the other, Index continens Alpha-
betico ordine Errorum Fautores : this is, in reality, a compendious
dictionary of errors and their authors.
Before finishing this necessarily short notice, we call special
attention to Tractus Quintus, vol. ii., Marialogia. A glance at
the Conspectus generalis, p. 281, shows how fully and with what
perfect order the subject is treated. We see in the pages that
follow how solid were the principles on which St. Alphonsus,
devotion to the Madonna rested ; also to Tractatus Sextus, De
Gratia. Priests who have to labour for the saving and perfecting
of souls will read with pleasure the proofs given of two proposi-
tions proposed by one who is rightly called an apostle of prayer,
namely : —
' Gratia sufficiens, quae, urgente praecepto, omnibus com-
muniter conceditur, ita est immediate et proximo ad orandum
sufficiens, ut quilibet cum ea actu orare possit, si velit, et per
orationem uberiora auxilia, quibus ad difficiliora peragenda et ad
salutem consequendam indiget obtinere,' No. 1,225.
And:—
' Ad gratiam efficacem obtinendam oratio est medium neces-
sarium et omnino infallible,' No. 1,226.
Just as in his moral and ascetic theology, so likewise in
his dogmatic treatises, St. Alphonsus is pre-eminently practical.
Father Herrmann has, it seems to us, thoroughly seized his
holy founder's spirit, and he has given us a book which has
come to stay.
J. M.
SEBMONS. By Father John Kelly, B.A., late Hector of
St. Joseph's, Birkdale. Manchester: P. Deschamps,
Blackfriars Bridge.
THE author of this volume of Sermons belonged to the
diocese of Liverpool, where he served at first as Secretary to the
Bishop, and afterwards as pastor of more than one important
district. As far as can be known, the discourses now collected
were all prepared and delivered during the author's missionary
career, and were addressed to ordinary town and country congre-
gations. They were not written with a view to publication, but
were collected after the author's death by one of his friends, who
found many of the manuscripts in a dilapidated condition, some
NOTICES OF BOOKS 191
written in pencil and in many places nearly illegible. They
narrowly escaped being burned as worthless, — a fate which has
befallen many similar efforts which in their day served to kindle
divine love in the hearts of Christians.
Most missionary priests will, I imagine, think all the more of
these discourses of Father Kelly's, forasmuch as they are here
printed as they were prepared, for delivery in the ordinary routine
of parochial work. It has been often said that a man's truest
biography is to be found in the letters which he may have written
to intimate friends, wherein he unaffectedly reveals his passing
thoughts and feelings. Writing with a view to publication is like
sitting for a portrait ; it develops an unconscious but inevitable
tendency to pose. There is a charming frankness and simplicity
in discourses which are intended merely for the faithful of the
parish, — one's own household and familiar friends, as it were, —
and in which there is no attempt, consciously or unconsciously,
to satisfy the larger and more critical audience to which a
published discourse necessarily appeals.
There is another point of view from which the volume before
us is of special interest. It is a chapter, so to speak, from the
biography of a gifted and zealous priest, in which he reveals
quite unconsciously the kind of work he did on the mission, and
from which others may learn not only what a good pastor should
endeavour to do, but what one has actually done in the way of
preaching to and instructing his people. During our college
course and at the annual retreats the lesson is again and again
repeated, that preaching without preparation — which for many
years, at least, means without writing out the discourse before
hand — is of little value. But so many impediments arise in the
missionary's daily life ; and it is so easy to find excuses for
appearing in the pulpit after a hurried preparation. Now, here
is one who was neither a college professor nor a conductor of
retreats, but the rector of many important and populous missions,
where the work pressed heavily on a delicate constitution. And
here are samples of the discourses he used actually to deliver to
his people, just as he delivered them ; the ordinary Sunday
morning or evening lectures, which he never imagined would
reach a larger audience than was collected for the occasion
within his parish church. What has been done by one may be
done by others in similar circumstances ; not, perhaps, as grace-
fully and well as by Father Kelly, for all have not his talents ;
but according to the capacity with which each one is endowed.
192 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
It remains to say something of the sermons as sources which
may be utilized by others in preparing for similar work. It
seems to me that from this point of view there are two kinds of
discourse : one formal, \vith the various divisions pointed out
explicitly, as well as the principal arguments and appeals with
which each point is amplified ; the other free and flowing, not
making so many divisions, nor distinguishing them so formally
one from another, but content to propose some one lesson, and to
illustrate and enforce this in many ways — from theology, philo-
sophy, history, art, science, experience of men ; each sentence
and paragraph arising out of the preceding almost imperceptibly,
and leading to a more artistic if not a simpler and more useful
whole.
For those who can afford to make but a hurried preparation,
the first kind of sermon is manifestly the most valuable ; and
Father Kelly's discourses are not of that kind. Those preachers,
however, who carefully write out their sermons, and aim at
producing not only solid but artistic results, will find very
valuable suggestions in the volume before us. It would also
serve, I think, as useful spiritual reading, especially for the laity,
inasmuch as it was for the laity the instructions were originally
prepared.
W. MCDONALD.
^
Isi^^^i^^^^^i^^^^^^i&^^^ii^^^^^^^i^^^^^^^^fjtrfiii^
A NECESSITY OP THOUGHT
WE crave the reader's indulgence for this brief
excursion into a region more or less abstract.
The abstract atmosphere is, we admit, un-
pleasantly thin. Its first effect is not unlike
that of a great mountain height ; we experience a difficulty
in catching our intellectual breath, and are disposed to grow
dizzy at the surrounding emptiness. Then it is such a
ghostly place — the home of disembodied ideas, entities as
elusive as the sprite. We altogether prefer the bustling
concrete, where ideas wear bodies of some sort through
which you can lay hold of them, and exhibit them before the
great popular tribunal of common sense, and make them
show cause why they should not be regarded as disturbers of
the public mind. However, it is with a view to afterwards
doing all this the more effectually that we now propose
to have a short consultation with that eminent chamber
lawyer— consciousness.
The subject we are about to discuss is of great —
even of supreme importance. It is, therefore, industriously
hidden away by the ' scientific philosophers ' under vague
forms of words that seem profound while they are
really only indefinite. In fact our present subject shows
us our philosophers in a new light. Whatever their
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III.— MARCH, 1898. N
194 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
shortcomings, we have not hitherto had occasion to charge
them with want of courage to go on. It is therefore
the more surprising to find them come to a dead stop
at a point of the philosophic road which is clearly not
the end, declaring that they have reached the limit of
speculation even for them. They boldly trace the universe
back to a certain primordial condition, and then, muttering
something about ' the unknown and unknowable,' leave it
an unsolved problem. Nor must anyone else touch it. It
must be held inscrutable, a mystery, something lying out-
side the pale, not only of science, but of thought. Having
seen the universe ground down in the philosophical mill to
elementary matter and force, you must be content to stop
there, to regard that condition as ultimate. You must not
seek to know where these elements of a universe came from,
or who or what established among them those special
relations which, according to the teaching of ' advanced
philosophy,' led to all subsequent developments. You are
left to conclude, as the only way of pacifying your insub-
ordinate reason, that the great elements probably constituted
an effect so prodigious that it could dispense with a cause !
Of course the conclusion is not to be put forward in that
shockingly naked form. Artistically shrouded in the mystery
of ' the unknown and unknowable,' it will begin to look
quite reasonable !
In fact we have in this great problem of the ultimate
origin of the universe the veritable skeleton in the philo-
sophers' cabinet, and they are never quite at ease about it.
Hence, even while solemnly ticketing it ' unknown and
unknowable,' they at the same time try to convey an
impression that science has somehow partly solved it in
the negative, or at least is just about to do so. And as a
last resource, they metaphorically snap their fingers at it as
an unpractical speculation, a mere metaphysical subtlety
which may be dismissed by practical men.
But like the calling of spirits from the vasty deep, the
dismissal of the ultimate problem of causation from the
human mind is hampered with a fatal difficulty in practice —
it won't go. Try all we may, we cannot think out a reason-
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 195
able theory of the universe without coming at last face to
face with the question of its origin. The solving of that
question in some fashion becomes for us, therefore, a neces-
sity of thought. Further, we contend that the solution is
equally inevitable — that as reasonable beings we can come
to only one conclusion, viz., that the existing universe had
an originating cause, which primary cause was necessarily
a transcendent intelligence. This conclusion we shall
now endeavour to work out with as little abstruseness as
may be.
We suppose it is unnecessary to say a . single word as to
the importance of the question and its answer. The special
note of the scientific philosophy is the elimination of the
idea of an intelligent First Cause from the system of nature,
that is to say, the elimination of the idea of God. In the
hands of the infidel philosophers the universe has become
the great argument against the existence of its Creator. As
we see it around us now, it can be explained without refer-
ence to any such being ; and when traced to its primordia
condition, it vanishes ' behind the veil.' That is the sum of
the scientific philosophy ; and whoever would retain his
belief in a God must be prepared to meet it.
The line of thought followed in this paper was suggested
by some pregnant sentences in the concluding paragraph of
Sir John Herschel's lecture On the Origin of Force.1 Having
called attention to the fact that the universe, as far as it
is observable by us, presents to us three orders of phenomena
— viz., physical, vital, and intellectual — Sir John Herschel
continues : —
The first and greatest question philosophy has to resolve in
its attempts to make out a Cosmos — to bring the whole of the
phenomena exhibited in these three domains of existence under
the contemplation of the mind as a congruous whole — is whether
or not we can derive any light from our internal consciousness of
thought, reason, power, will, motive, design : whether, that is to
1 Familiar Lectures.
196 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
say, nature is or is not more interpretable by supposing these
things (be they what they may) to have had, or to have, to do
with its arrangements.
The suggestion here thrown out really takes us down to
the very root of all profitable study of natural phenomena.
The very first question certainly is — How are we to approach
the study of these phenomena ? What standards have we
to refer them to ? What weights and measures have we to
gauge them with ? To answer this fundamental question
we turn the search-light of our intellect in on ourselves, and
examine how we stand related to the phenomena of which
we have the best because the most immediate experience —
namely, our own works as free agents. How do we account
for these phenomena of our own production to ourselves or
to our fellowmen ? — why we did that act, or went to that
place, or bought or sold that thing ? At once we discover
ourselves referring them to internal, intellectual conceptions
more or less clear and deliberate. And the more closely we
watch the process of explanation the more we realize that a
work of ours is always and only explicable when clearly
referable to a prototypal thought ; that such perfections and
defects of the work as are not merely mechanical are trace-
able to the thought; and that confusion in the work or its
interpretation comes of confusion in the thought. The
steps that lead to the phenomena we produce ourselves — our
works as free agents — we thus find to be substantially these :
(1) a conception, clear or confused, of an end to be gained —
a design ; (2) a conception, also more or less clear or con-
fused, of means to be applied to gain that end — a plan}
(3) the actual carrying out, with more or less success, of the
different parts of the plan, thus realizing, more or less per-
fectly, the original design. This last step is still traceable
to a mental origin in reason and will.
In all the steps of this process we of course recognise
that we are handicapped by the limitation of our powers,
mental and physical. We have also to admit that, owing to
our limitations, the steps are not always so clearly distin-
guishable as here set forth. Indeed occasionally the first
two steps seem to be reversed, the conception of means
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 197
coming first and suggesting possible ends. Still these defects
do not in the least shake our belief in the truth of the general
conclusion at which we have arrived — namely, that our
works are external projections, more or less perfect, of
previous intellectual conceptions ; that they existed as
thoughts before they existed as facts ; that they are ideals
more or less perfectly realized. The first result, then, of
self-observation is to trace back all self-produced phenomena
t.o the initial influence or impulsion of some of those intel-
lectual powers or forces named by Sir John Herschel. In
so far as we are conscious of being originators of formative
force, leading to the production of phenomena, we are to the
like extent conscious of the purely mental origin of that
force. In other words, all phenomena of our own produc-
tion— our works as free agents — are traceable to previous
formative thought. This is unquestionably the testimony of
our consciousness. It is information directly gained, or, as
we may say, at first hand.
We now proceed to extend the range of our knowledge
by inference ; and the first extension we give it will hardly,
we think, be questioned. It rests on our reasonable convic-
tion of the unity of human nature — that mankind is all of a
piece. Therefore the works of our fellowmen are related
to them as ours to us, that is, they are expressions of
previously existing intellectual conceptions. This consider-
ably increases the number of phenomena clearly interpretable
by a rule founded on our own consciousness. The category
now embraces all the works of man as a free agent. Looked
at through the medium of our consciousness, every such
work of man stands forth against the background of an
interpreting thought. Any particular work of man is a
puzzle to us only when we cannot clearly refer it to its
intellectual background.
Let us assure ourselves by experiment, so to speak, that
all this is no mere abstract dreaming, but a true account
of what we are instinctively doing every day of our lives.
Let us suppose ourselves viewing one of those triumphs
of modern engineering — a great steel railway bridge.
198 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
What association of ideas would be most likely to occur to
us — the bridge and the foundry, or the bridge and the
engineer ? Certainly the latter. Even if the first did occur
to us, we could not rest in it ; for this association of ideas
would be really our instinctive reference of the work to its
origin, and no conceivable wealth of machinery would here
fulfil the idea of that relation. Inevitably we should go
back to the mind of the engineer, when the great work
would resolve itself into a great thought. Then and not till
then should we feel that we had satisfactorily accounted to
ourselves for the existence of this particular phenomenon.
This is a solitary instance of an ever-recurring act, always
substantially the same. We pass a neat cottage on the
roadside. Instantly we refer its neatness, not to the white-
wash and creepers, but to an aesthetic ideal in the mind of
the occupant. Even a heap of broken stones, if we notice
it at all, is instinctively referred to an ideal, good, bad, or
indifferent, in the mind of the humble operator, or, further
back, in that of Macadam.
Hence we may safely conclude that we have here got
hold of something like a law of our intellectual nature, in
virtue of which we trace things to thoughts, and feel fully
satisfied only when we can so trace them. Without the
background of thought the works of our fellowmen become
unintelligible to us. Nay, even our own works, if perchance
we forget the thoughts that inspired them, become equally
unintelligible. We have all had experience of this curious
verification of our principle. How often have we had to
stop before one of our own works quite puzzled to account
for its occurrence or existence. Why did I do this ? Why
did I place this here ? We know well we did the work in
question ; but that does not explain it to us. That was a
stage in its production, not its origin. We are as certain of
a mental origin farther back as we are of the actual exist-
ence of the work there confronting us. There was an
originating thought, whatever has become of it. And until
that thought is traced and found in the memory, the work
remains unintelligible — an effect without a cause.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 199
And here let us hark back for a moment to check our
work by comparison with our text. The question proposed
was, whether natural phenomena become more interpretable
by referring them to mind. Towards the solution of this
question we have made this much progress. We have found
that the phenomena most within reach of our experience
are more or less interpretable according as they are more or
less clearly referable to mind. This reference to mental
prototypes thus establishes itself as a rule of interpretation
for these phenomena. Further, we have found it to be our
only rule in these cases — the one principle by which we
could satisfactorily account for the existence of the pheno-
mena in question. When it failed us, we were for the time
intellectually lost. The work of our fellowman, and even
our own, became a puzzle when the thought that underlay
it could not be traced. This last, or negative result of our
inquiry, is by far the most important for the object in view.
It was a good thing to find out that for certain phenomena
we had an instinctive method of interpretation which we
found to be quite satisfying to us as rational beings. It was
a still better thing to find out that we had no other method
that gave us any satisfaction. For this latter discovery has
prepared us to give full, intelligent acceptance to Sir John
Herschel's final extension of our principle, at least in its
negative form, to all the phenomena of nature — 'Constituted
as the human mind is, if nature be not interpretable through
these conceptions [of relation with mind], it is not interpret-
able at all.' Here we have at last reached a great general
rule for the interpretation of nature — a rule which, on the
warrant alike of intellectual necessity and of strictly
scientific analogy, claims the whole field — a rule woven into
the very texture of our minds, and so interwoven with our
intuition of cause itself that to strangle one is to paralyze
the other. Let us thoroughly convince ourselves of all this —
(1) that we have, de facto, in this rule a reliable guide to the
satisfactory solution of the great puzzle of the universe —
the origin of things ; and (2) that all attempts to solve the
problem on other principles invariably lead to intellectual
chaos.
200 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
When we look at our triple universe of matter, life, and
mind, we cannot help regarding it as a work — a product ol
the operation of some power, force, energy, or whatever
other word will properly express the ultimate Efficient
Cause.1 It bears the stamp of workmanship on every part,
great and small. So patent is this that few, even of the
most reckless of the ' advanced philosophers,' venture to
question it. They too, like ourselves, instinctively refer the
universe and its parts to causes, thereby admitting that they
have to view them as effects — as works of some agent or
power. But having thus far followed the lead of their intel-
lectual instincts, when they come to take the next step —
that of tracing the work to its source, they deliberately
abandon what is for them as for us ' the method of nature '-
a method that is as much a part of our intellectual outfit as
the intuition of cause itself. In doing this they necessarily
also turn their backs on that boasted ' scientific method ' by
which they profess always to interpret the ' ultra-experien-
tial ' in nature by analogy of the observed and known. The
works of man they can only account for satisfactorily by
tracing them, like ourselves, to an intellectual origin ; but
the far more elaborate works with which the three -fold
universe overflows they are content to refer to the action of
unintelligent forces. To be consistent they should also
content themselves with referring the bridge to the foundry,
maintaining that the varied and powerful machinery there
was the ultimate and sufficient cause of its existence, and
that its pedigree went no further back. They say in fact :
' We cannot account for the existence of this bridge without
going back to the mind of the engineer, from which came
the plan that was worked out by the mechanical and
chemical appliances of the foundry. But this other work —
the solar system, or this one — the growing plant, or this
1 According to some recent authorities it would seem that a correct use of
the terms force and energy is almost as rare an accomplishment as that of shall
and intf. As regards the more common term, force, we take shelter behind
Faraday : — ' "What I mean by the word force is the cause of a physical action —
the source or sources of all possible changes amongst the particles or materials
of the uui verse.' — Experimental Researches, p. 460.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 201
one — the sentient animal, or even this one — man himself,
with his wonderful originating power — all these we trace,
not to an intellectual origin, but to the interaction of the
ordinary forces of mindless matter. We cannot indeed
imagine unintelligent forces planning the bridge, but we can
fancy them forming the engineer ! '
Let it not be said that this is but a travesty of the
' advanced philosophy.' Those who have had the patience
to follow us throughout, know that we are not overstating
the case. They will easily recall many pronouncements of
the ' philosophers ' that would entirely bear us out. ' The
existing world lay potentially in the cosmic vapour.' There,
according to Professor Huxley, is the remotest thinkable
origin of all the exquisite and intricate works of nature we
see around us. But is such an origin really thinkable as
ultimate ? Can we stop there ? Do we not here realize the
full truth of what Sir John Herschel says — that, constituted
as our minds are, we must interpret nature by reference to
mind, or not at all? There is no use in offering us matter
and force in any quantity. "We can no more stop at these
than we can at the ore and the foundry in tracing the bridge.
No doubt the bridge ' lay potentially ' in the ore, and was
' evolved ' out of it by the powerful machinery of the foundry.
But is all this thinkable by us as an ultimate origin ? The
potential existence of the bridge in the ore might have
continued till doom's day, and never become actual existence,
but for the thought in a man's head. That is the only
ultimate origin that satisfies us. So with 'the existing
world.' Granting that it ' lay potentially in the cosmic
vapour,' and granting to the said ' cosmic vapour ' all the
properties that can reasonably be claimed for mere matter —
forces, motion, high temperature, whatever you like — the
formation of the existing world out of it all is still unthinkable
without some representation of the engineer, some intelligent
power to plan, to initiate, to guide.
Here Professor Huxley tries to baffle us by one of those
metaphysical suppositions that seem for a moment to confuse
the reasoning powers — ' Our present universe,' he pleasantly
suggests, ' may be but the last stage of an eternal series of
202 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
metamorphoses.' Now this may sound very imposing, but it
is really no better than cuttle-fish philosophy — a meaningless
phrase designed to darken a clear issue. As the wily professor
very well knew, an 'eternal series' of things is to the average
man as slippery as a circulating decimal. You may go on for
ever trying to see to the end, and it keeps always just out of
sight. It is like Jack's cable that kept on steadily coming
up out of the water until he was ready to swear that ' the
devil must have cut the other end off ! ' It does not demand
much reasoning to show that this eternal series of changes
in matter is no more than a philosophical scarecrow— a
frightful figure in the path, which it is hoped you will not
go near enough to examine. When you do examine it you
find it to be only a mystifying way of saying that an effect
does not need a cause. For each change — each new stage
in the series — is an effect arising from, or in some way caused
by, the preceding one. Admittedly no particular stage can
be conceived to arise except from a preceding one ; that is
to say, no stage can be conceived as an absolute beginning,
an ultimate cause of all that follows. In other words, the
supposed 'series of metamorphoses' can have no ultimate
cause. Whence ' our present universe ' stands forth as the
biggest and grandest instance within our ken of an effect
without a cause ! So this high-sounding ' eternal series of
metamorphoses ' is at bottom a negation of our intuition
of causality, and impliedly of the capacity of human con-
sciousness to bear reliable witness to anything. Even so
thorough-going an evolutionist as Weismann rejects the
notion of eternal matter as an adequate substitute for a
First Cause. — ' The assumption of eternal matter with its
eternal laws by no means satisfies our intellectual need for
causality.' 1
Has Professor Huxley anything further to say to the
question? Yes; he has just one thing more: — 'The scientific
investigator is wholly incompetent to say anything at all
about the first origin of the material universe.' (What !
not even ' hocus-pocus ' ?) This will, perhaps, seem at first
i Studies in the Theories of Descent, 1882, p. 716.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 203
sight the one sane statement the Professor has made on the
subject ; yet not even with this can we agree. We hear a
great deal at times from all the ' advanced philosophers '
about ' the scientific method ' by which they are enabled to
' cross the boundary of experimental evidence,' and ' discern '
wonderful things that lie outside the region of experience.
These are ' derived by a process of abstraction from
experience. ... In this way, out of experience, arise
conceptions which are wholly ultra-experiential.' I Agam —
' Having determined the elements of their curve in a world
of observation and experiment, they [i.e., the scientific
philosophers] prolong that curve ' 2 into regions of thought
beyond.
Furnished with this ' open sesame,' how can Professor
Huxley declare himself 'wholly incompetent to say anything
at all about the first origin of the material universe ' ? Is
not this a case where we can ' determine the elements of
our curve ' of causality * in a world of observation and
experiment,' namely, the world of phenomena of our own
originating? In that world of our immediate experience
the elements of the curve are found to be all purely mental.
Must not its prolongation, therefore, through and beyond
'the primitive nebulosity,' lead us to an analogous originating
cause there ? If we are to credit ' the scientific method '
with the powers claimed for it, this must inevitably be the
result of its application here. But perhaps that is just the
reason it is not applied !
This agnostic pose is rather a favourite one with our
' advanced philosophers.' It gives the impression of moder-
ation and caution, and contrasts favourably with ' the
intolerant dogmatism of theology.' Mr. S. Laing in his
Modern Science and Modern Thought, having traced energy
back to the cosmic atoms, continues : —
If we ask how came the atoms into existence endowed with
this marvellous energy, we have reached the furthest bounds of
human knowledge, and can only reply in the words of the poet —
1 Tyndall, Belfast Address.
2 Id., Scientific Use of the Imagination.
204 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
'Behind the veil, behind the veil.' We can only form meta-
physical suppositions, or I might rather call them the vaguest
guesses,1
This may be taken as a typical statement. We have it
reproduced in many impressive forms by Tyndall, standing
with bowed head before the Mystery of Matter ; by Spencer,
in the sanctuary of his own special deity, ' the Unknown
and Unknowable;' by Huxley, also worshipping in silence
' at the altar of the Unknown and Unknowable ;' 2 and by
many lesser lights eager to parade their emancipation from
the trammels of worn-out creeds, and their adoption of ' the
scientific idea of a First Cause, inscrutable and past finding
out.' 3 A.S this is 'a more sublime as well as a more rational
belief than the old orthodox conception,' it is worth examining
a little. Passing by the ' sublime,' let us look at it from the
' rational ' side.
Whatever we know, or seem to know, of atoms and energy,
are but deductions from phenomena ; for atoms and energy
themselves are just as much ' behind the veil ' as their First
Cause. Now the phenomena which teach us all that we
know of atoms and energy — do they not speak with equal
plainness of a third thing, mind ? This, at any rate, was the
view of Sir John Herschel — no weak-kneed metaphysical
guesser, but as robust a scientific thinker as the century has
produced. ' It is reasonable,' he says, 'to regard the force of
gravitation as the direct or indirect result of a consciousness
or a will existing somewhere.' 4 Certainly this is no more
than ' reasonable.' If the planetary motions prove the
existence of a linking force, surely they prove just as plainly
the prevalence of a far-reaching order and plan, implying
' a consciousness or a will existing somewhere.' Our
' philosophers ' are not always so blind to the evidence of
design, nor so slow to draw the proper conclusion. When
5 Page 70. This book is an able, and therefore a dangerous, popular statement
of the agnostic philosophy. In ten years it has had a sale of over twenty
thousand.
2 Lay Sermons, p. 14.
3 Modern Science and Modern Tlwuyht, p. 222.
* Outlines of Astronomy, 5th ed., p. 291.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 205
the matter is one that seems to favour their own theories
they are only too ready to conclude. Their proof of the
remote antiquity of man is a case in point. Fragments of
flint chipped in a peculiar way have been found in ancient
drift deposits. These flints, the ' philosophers ' tell us, show
evident marks of design — of having been ' intentionally
chipped into their present forms.'1 They scout the idea
that such forms could result from any conceivable action of
the forces of nature, or could be the handiwork of any kind
of ape however ' anthropoid.' The signs of. purpose are too
evident ; and purpose is unanswerable proof of a reasoning
intelligence- Therefore beyond all doubt, they conclude,
man existed at the drift period. We are not now considering
the validity of this proof, but only the method of it. Let it
be borne in mind that not a scrap of human bones has been
found with these flints, nor in any certainly coeval deposits
elsewhere. Consequently the proof is purely inferential —
a conclusion from the evidence of design to the necessary
existence of an intelligent being. Behold the chameleon
consistency of the ' philosophers ' ! A few doubtfully-marked
fragments of stone are sufficient evidence of plan and pur-
pose to prove intelligent authorship ; but the elaborate and
exquisite works of nature are quite incompetent to establish
a similar conclusion. The men of the drift are clearly seen
in their very questionable works, but the Author of Nature
is ' behind the veil.'
Taking the three factors of the universe — matter, force,
and mind — we find the same state of things. The
' philosophers ' see as much as they want to, and no more.
These three mysterious entities lie equally ' behind the veil,'
are equally 'metaphysical conceptions.' Natural phenomena
bear witness to the existence of all three in exactly the
same way, viz., by special characteristics from which we
necessarily infer the existence of each. From the reality of
these phenomena we infer a real basis, matter ; from their
actual occurrence we infer an agent or power at woik, force ;
from their orderly character we infer a controlling and
1 Sir John Lubbock, Scientific Lectures, p. 149.
206 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
guiding influence, mind. Why are two of these inferences
valid, although they point to things ' behind the veil,' while
the third is to be regarded as invalid because it too points to
something ' behind the veil ' ? If we are able to read the
existence of two of the things in their effects, why not that
of the third as well ? The evidence is as plain in one case
as another. Nay, we can bring forward proof that the
evidence for the third is actually plainer than for either of the
other two — that mind is more clearly revealed in nature
than either matter or force.1 To this the forms of ordinary
speech — the crystallized thought of the people — bear un-
deniable testimony. When the ' scientific philosophers '
attempt to describe natural phenomena, they find that they
must use the language of design if they wish to be understood.
We have only to look into any of their books to see this ;
Darwin's Origin, for instance, is full of it. What does this
show? It shows how natural phenomena present them-
selves to the eyes of mankind in general. Whatever the
philosophers may do, the people describe things as they see
them. When, therefore, we find that the notion of design
in natural phenomena has so moulded the usages of the
common speech that all must recognise it if they would be
intelligible, the fact is clear proof that design is the most
generally evident characteristic of these phenomena.
Our ' philosophers ' may answer superiorly that in a
matter of this kind the people are incompetent witnesses :
in fact, like the law, 'the people is a h-ass.' No doubt
from the scientific standpoint the people is a very poor
concern. It knows little or nothing of sciences or '-ologies.'
It stands agape at the most elementary scientific demonstra-
tion. It has no proper reverence for that great mechanical
providence, the law of inverse squares. But there is here
no question of scientific attainments. The question simply
is — What special characteristic of natural phenomena most
strikes the popular mind ? And the answer recorded in
1 This would seem to be the impression made on Tennyson himself, from
whose In Memoriam the phrase ' Behind the veil ' is quoted. ' Matter,' he said,
'is a greater mystery than mind' — a thing less plainly revealed in nature.
See Life, by his^son, vol. ii., p. 424.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 207
the forms of every civilized speech is design, intelligence.
Science has nothing to do with this unanimous testimony
but to accept it as a fact, and to ponder its significance. A
common intuition, as Balmes says, is ' a land-mark of
philosophy';1 and this seems to be one. 'That philo-
sophy,' continues Balmes, ' must be erroneous which is
opposed to a necessity, and contradicts an evident fact.'
This exactly describes the position of the agnostic philosophy.
It is opposed to a necessity of human thought, and contra-
dicts a fact so evident that it has stamped itself on the
speech of every civilized people.
In fine, we will call two individual witnesses whose claims
to speak for Nature no one will venture to dispute. One
shall speak for the Universe of Life, the other for the
Universe of Matter and Force, and both will testify to the
all -pervading evidence of Mind.
Whatever we may think of Darwin as a philosopher, no
one questions his eminence as a naturalist. He cannot be
suspected of any desire to favour the doctrine of mind in
nature, seeing that the whole tendency of his system is to
eliminate mind altogether from natural phenomena. There-
fore when we find him in his later years, after all his unique
experience, forced to bear unwilling witness to the over-
powering evidence of an intelligent First Cause which living
nature supplies, we can hardly overrate the importance of
his testimony: In a private memoir written in 1876, we
find this remarkable statement : —
Another source of conviction in the existence of God, con-
nected with the reason, and not with the feelings, impresses me
as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme
difficulty, or rather impossibility, of conceiving this immense
and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity for
looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of
blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled
to look to a First Cause having intelligent mind in some degree
analogous to that of man.2
1 Fundamental Philosophy, vol. i., p. 267.
2 Life and Letters, vol. i., p. 312. Nevertheless he concludes inconsequent! y
— ' The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us : and I for
one must be content to remain an agnostic.'
208 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
In the year of his death (1882), discussing this question
with the Duke of Argyll, he admitted that the conviction of
design in nature often still came over him ' with over-
whelming force.'1
What have our agnostic philosophers to say to these
repeated admissions, dragged, so to speak, from the reluctant
lips of the very father of the philosophic faithful, ' the
Abraham of scientific men ' ? 2 At Belfast Tyndall proudly
paraded Darwin as rejecting ' teleology ' and ' the notion of
a supernatural Artificer.' What hollow mockery it all seems
in the light of the pitiful revelation here made ? For it is
pitiful to see this really great naturalist, in the interests of a
mistaken idea, blindly struggling to free himself from a
necessity of thought, to stifle the voice of consciousness
within and nature without, to persist in saying ' no ' while
the universe thundered ' yes.'
Our second witness is the Seer of modern science, the
man whose scientific inspirations are still a fruitful source of
scientific discovery, Faraday. Who will question his insight
into the mysterious universe of matter and force ? And the
revelation it made to him is conveyed, not inappropriately,
in the language of another and higher revelation. ' I believe
that the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are, even His eternal power and Godhead.' 3
One more witness we take leave to call — that peculiar
American genius — philosopher, lecturer, essayist, poet — the
Carlyle of the New World, Emerson. Tyndall apparently
would appropriate him ; but we dispute his claim. We do
not say he agrees with us in all, or even in much ; but we
do say that he has more in common with us than with
materialism. We might quote many passages in support of
our contention, but we restrict ourselves to two — one from
each of his essays on Nature.
Through all its kingdoms, to the suburbs and outskirts of
things, [Nature] is faithful to the cause whence it had its origin.
1 Ibid., p. 316, note.
2 Tyndall, Science and Man.
3 Experimental Researches, p. 465
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 209
It always speaks of Spirit. It suggests the absolute. It is a
perpetual effect. It is a great shadow pointing always to the
sun behind us.
And to the like effect these two golden sentences —
'Nature is the incarnation of a thought. . . . The world
is mind precipitated.'
But there is little to be gained by arguing this question
with the ' advanced philosophers.' As far as they are con-
cerned, the ease is closed. Their intellectual position might
be represented by the figure of Justice without the scales,
or Sam Weller when he ' didn't see ' his father in the
gallery, though he 'rayther thought ' he was there. Pat into
words, regardless of ' bulls,' it might be expressed thus :
' There is no evidence of God in nature ; and if there is, we
won't see it.'
Let us briefly resume the argument before leaving it.
Three classes of phenomena, viz., our own works, our neigh -
bour's, and the universe, present three cases of causation.
All three are alike inexplicable without reference to mind.
All three alike become quite comprehensible by reference to
mind. Of the mental origin of the first we have the most
absolute certainty we can have of anything. Of the mental
origin of the second we have a certainty almost as absolute,
resting on our certainty of our neighbour's likeness to our-
selves, and on his constant testimony regarding the origin of
his own works. Therefore in the third case, from the analogy
of these two, and prescinding altogether from any testimony
there may be in the shape of a revelation, it becomes a
necessity of thought with us to assume a mental origin — an
intelligent First Cause. We cannot stop at the agnostic
terminus. We cannot say — ' I admit the first because I
have the testimony of my own consciousness ; I admit the
second because I have the testimony of my neighbour, rest-
ing on that of his consciousness ; but I do not admit the
third, because, not believing in a revelation, I have no
testimony.' This is to deny the validity of every sort of
evidence but human testimony — an absurdity which would
at once make a clean sweep of three-fourths of the conclusions
VOL. in. o
210 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
of physical science ! As Professor Asa Gray says : — ' In
Nature we have no testimony ; but the argument is over-
whelming.' l If that silent but overwhelming argument is
to be set aside, the sooner we disabuse ourselves of the notion
that we are reasonable beings the better. In fact the only
real justification of agnosticism is Darwin's ' horrid doubt —
whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been
developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any
value or at all trustworthy. Would anyone trust the convic-
tions of a monkey's mind ? ' 2 On this view of the nature of
the mental faculties, and on this alone, does agnosticism
become logical. If we are highly developed apes, and no
more, not only our conclusion about a First Cause, but all
our conclusions become untrustworthy. But in that case it
would not matter much one way or the other.
The agnostic philosophers are fond of pointing to the
inconceivableness of creation as proof that it is impossible
and cannot have taken place. Is creation inconceivable,
and therefore impossible ?
Let us begin by clearing up the term of comparison,
inconceivable. A thing may be inconceivable (1) relatively
to us by reason of some deficiency in ourselves, as colour is
inconceivable to a person always blind ; or (2) absolutely in
se by involving a necessary contradiction which renders it
unthinkable, as that two and two make five, or that a
triangle may be round.8
Evidently the only sort of inconceivableness that involves
impossibility is the second. Is creation inconceivable in
that sense ?
In creation we distinguish two things — the act and the
mode; and it may be conceivable or inconceivable as regards
the one and not as regards the other. By the act of creation
1 Danciniana, p. 74.
2 From a letter written in 1881, the year before his death. Life and Letters,
vol. i., p. 316.
3 Tiiure is a third and looser sense in which a thing is often said to be
inconceivable : when it is so fantastic, so opposed to the nature of things as
known to us, that we refuse to believe it possible ; e.y., the existence of such
being's as the fabled Centaurs.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 211
is meant ' the transition of a substance from not-being to
being by virtue of the productive action of another sub-
stance.' 1 Is this transition inconceivable ? Taking for
granted the existence of the First Cause — already sufficiently
demonstrated — we have in this transition ' only the idea of
causality in its highest degree, that is, as applied to the pro-
duction of a substance* But since we have the idea of cause,
the idea of creation is not a new and inconceivable idea, but
the perfection of an idea which is common to all mankind.'
So far then from the act of creation being inconceivable in
the sense of self-contradictory and therefore impossible, we
see that it is, on the contrary, the most perfect expression,
the most complete realization in fact of a common
fundamental intuition.
Is the mode of creation inconceivable? In the first
place let us say that we are not much concerned to prove
whether it is or no. Having once established the possibility
of creation in se, and its entire conformity with right
reason, the mere question of how represents a point of very
secondary importance. Whether the mode of creation be
conceivable or not cannot in the least affect either the
possibility or the fact of creation. How many things do we
recognise as indisputable facts without knowing the how of
their existence. Can anyone tell us how we see things ?
We can trace the light -picture as far as the back of the eye,
but then it becomes something else, which we call sensation,
while in the brain it becomes still another thing, which
we call vision. How all this happens, who can say ! That
it does happen we can all say. To the astronomer the force
of gravitation is a fact, but the man who will demonstrate
how it is exercised will at once take his place beside Newton,
if not above him. Let it be clearly borne in mind, then,
that the rest of this discussion has no bearing whatever on
the possibility or the fact of creation. They are established.
1 Balmes, Fundamental Philosophy, vol. ii., p. 453.
2 Balmes distinguishes between the power of a ^finite cause, which is
limited to the production of modifications of substances already existing, and
that of the Infinite Cause, which extends to the production of substances them-
selves. The mode of production, however, we judge to be alike ia both cases,
viz., by icilling.
212 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The question now is merely whether we can conceive hoiv
it took place. Whether we can or no, the fact remains a
fact. Our investigation henceforward possesses that merely
scientific interest which attaches to the study of every great
and wonderful phenomenon. In this attitude of reverent
scientific curiosity we repeat our question — Is the mode of
creation inconceivable ?
The only way in which we can form any idea at all of
the mode of creation is by observing the manner in which
we exercise the faculty of causation ourselves. We find
that it is by an act of will. We will the things which, as
free agents, we do. As this is the only mode of original
causation with which we are acquainted, we must conclude
that it was the mode of creation — that the Creator produced
all things from nothing by an act of w ill.
How far is such a production conceivable by us ? Just
as far as the production of our own acts is conceivable by
us. We can conceive a thing beginning to be in response
to an act of the Creator's will, just as we can conceive a
thing beginning to be in response to an act of our own will ;
but how such effects in either case follow from such a cause
is incomprehensible to us. We know no more, and no less,
how an act of the Creator's will produces a thing out of
nothing than how an act of our own will moves a limb.
The one is as inexplicable as the other.
To this then is the inconceivableness of creation reduced,
viz., to the manner in which the production of a thing
follows from the willing of it. But, as we have insisted at
such tiresome length, this inconceivableness of mode does
not touch the possibility or fact of production. It would
not matter in the least if it were shown to-morrow that our
theory as to the Creator's mode of operation was all wrong —
that His way of working is quite different from ours, or from
any conception we can form of it by analogy of our own.
In the absence of any other clue, the said analogy supplies a
tolerably satisfying basis of inference in a matter of compara-
tively speculative interest. In assuming that the Creator
works as we do by willing, we are simply making the most
of our limited intellectual resources.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 213
As to the nature of this inconceivableness attaching to
the mode of creation, it is clearly of that relative kind
which arises from a deficiency in ourselves owing to the
limitations of our state — limitations which make so many
things within us as well as without us mysteries to us.
Yet are they none the less facts to us. Who doubts his
capacity to will, and by willing to do ? Yet who knows
how the doing springs from the willing ? This relative
inconceivableness of mode affords no more ground for
denying the possibility of creation, than for denying the
possibility of the acts we are ourselves doing every moment.
For the relation of these acts to our will is as incompre-
hensible as the relation of created things to the will of the
Creator.
The following lively statement of the point by Balmes
is well worth adding : —
God wills, and the universe springs up out of nothing : — how
can this be understood ? To him who asks this I say — Man
wills, and his arm rises ; he wills, and his whole body is in
motion : how can this be understood ? Here is a small, weak,
and incomplete, but true image of the Creator — an intelligent
being who wills, and a fact which appears. Where is the
connection ? If you cannot explain it to us in so far as concerns
finite beings, how can you ask us to explain it with respect to the
Infinite Being? The incomprehensibility of the connection of
the motion of the body with the force of the will does not
authorize us to deny the connection. Therefore, the incompre-
hensibility of the connection of a being which appears for the
first time with the force of the infinite will cannot authorize us
to deny the creation.1
When Agnosticism rejects creation as inconceivable,
presumably it has a more conceivable substitute to offer
us instead. Herbert Spencer, at any rate, is bound to provide
such a substitute, for he maintains that, 'while the process of
special creation cannot be rationally conceived, the negation
of it is perfectly conceivable.'2
We might set off against this the equally dogmatic
1 Fundamental Philosophy, vol. ii., p. 483.
2 Nineteenth Century, November, 1895.
214 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
declaration of Professor Huxley, that the hypothesis of
creation is ' perfectly conceivable, and therefore no one can
deny that it may have happened ' — that it is an alternative 'not
scientifically unthinkable.' J However, let us take ' the Apostle
of the Understanding' on his own ground, and see how he
himself ' rationally conceives ' this 'negation.' His 'perfectly
conceivable ' substitute for the creation of matter is a
' persisting force ' which ' transcends human knowledge
and conception,' and is ' an unknown and unknowable
power ! ' There is no denying that ' negation ' is here at
a discount ; the ' perfect conceivableness ' is hardly so
apparent. The reader will recall with new interest the
same ' Apostle's ' eminently ' rational conception ' of the
origin of life heretofore quoted; it is very concise, but
supplies endless food for thought. Life arose ' through
successive complications ' !
In conclusion we will reward the reader's patience with
a tit-bit of ' advanced philosophy ' — something our American
cousins would call '"reel" good' — an up-to-date agnostic
Genesis. We extract it from a wildly gushing life of
Darwin, contributed to the ' English Worthies ' series by
Mr. Grant Allen, a gentleman who, since the extinction of
greater lights, has been making himself very prominent as
an evolutionist of the most ' advanced ' type. This tour
d1 imagination pourtrays the ideal realization (if we may use
such a combination of words) of ' the illuminating doctrine
of Evolution ' as representing ' a cosmical process, one and
continuous, from nebula to man, from star to soul, from
atom to society.'2 Comment seems needless; and we
content ourselves with directing the reader's attention by
means of italics to a few specially pure gems of thought or
reasoning.
The evolutionist looks out upon the Cosmos as a continuous
process unfolding itself in regular order in obedience to definite
natural laws. He sees in it all, not a warring chaos restrained
by the constant interference from without of a wise and beneficent
1 Nineteenth Century, February, 1886, pp. 202, 203. 2 Page 191.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 215
external power, but a vast aggregate of original elements [?]
perpetually working out their own fresh redistribution in accord-
ance with their own inherent energies. ...
In the very beginning [?] the matter which now composes the
material universe seems to have existed in a very diffuse and
nebulous condition. The gravitative force, however, with which
every atom of the whole vast mass was primarily endowed,
caused it gradually to aggregate around certain fixed and definite
centres [?]•••
Biology next steps in with its splendid explanation of organic
life, as due initially to the secondary action of radiated solar
energy on the outer crust of such a cooling and evolving
planet (!]... How the first organism came to exist, biology
has not yet been able fully to explain to us ; but aided by
chemical science it has been able to show us in part how some
of the simple organic bodies may have been originally built up^
and it does not despair of showing us in the end how the earliest
organism may actually have been produced from the prime
elements of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon.
Psychology in the hands of Herbert Spencer and his followers,
not wholly unaided by Darwin himself, . . . has traced the
origin and development of mind, ivithout a single break, from its
first faint and half-unconscious manifestation in the polyp or the
jelly-fish, to its final grand and varied outcome in the soul of the
poet, or the intellect of the philosopher.
Sociology . . . taking from biology the evolving savage . . .
has shown how he has grown up to science, to philosophy, to
morals, and to religion.
And there you are !
E. GAYNOB, C.M.
216
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN
"Y first visit to Altadavin was in the month of August,
1883, during a mission in Aghaloo, the next parish
to Errigal-Truagh, in which Altadavin is situated. The
Kev. Daniel O'Connor, then P.P. of Errigal-Truagh, now
Canon and P.P. of Newtownbutler, was my kind cicerone.
In May and June, 1884, we gave a mission in Errigal-
Truagh, where my work lay in the outlying district of
Portclare, in which the Glen is situated, which I then twice
revisited.
My object in writing the present article, is to draw,
attention to this remarkable spot, which, much to my
surprise, has, I find, received scarcely any mention either in
ancient or modern authors, and except to those living in its
neighbourhood, and to some few interested in archaeology,
appears to be generally unknown even in Ireland. I shall
first, then, give simply my own description of Altadavin,
from the impressions left on my memory after a lapse of
fourteen years, interspersed with a few topographical
notices ; and shall then say what of interest I have gleaned
from ancient authors and archaeological sources that sheds
any light on its history and surroundings. And this I
shall do especially to show, that the claim which the
local tradition has ever made to the connection of
Altadavin with St. Patrick rests on most probable and
solid grounds.
Errigal-Truagh is a very extensive parish, of the diocese
of Clogher, chiefly situated within the county of Monaghan,
but having some fifteen or sixteen townlands, called the
Portclare district, belonging to county Tyrone, of which
Altadavin, in the barony of Clogher, is one. There are
three churches in the parish : the principal one, that of
St. Mary, Ballyoshin; that of the Sacred Heart, Carrickroe ;
and that of St. Patrick at Clara, within two miles of
Altadavin.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 217
This is a small valley or glen,1 some four miles south-
east of Clogher, extending nearly a mile from north to south.
The hills that bound it on either side are from a hundred to
a hundred and fifty feet high , lined with steep rocks and
jutting crags. The sides and the glen itself are thickly
wooded with fir trees, stunted oaks, larch, ash, birch, hazel,
holly, and underwood. A small clear stream runs murmur-
ing through the glen. This stream is nameless, both in the
map, and in local nomenclature. Issuing from Lough
More (i.e., the Great Lake), half a mile south of the head of
the glen, it flows through Lough Beg (the Little Lake),
which lies quite near the entrance of the valley. Both
these lakes are small ; the latter much the smaller one, and
not bigger than a good-sized fish-pond. They are named
in Irish great and little, only by way of comparison.
I may mention, en passant, that Lough Beg has a tiny
islet on its waters. It is a floating island planted with a
few shrubs of the sallow genus. To those living within view
of the island, along the hill-side of Cullabeg, which is very
near Lough Beg, and of Cullamore,2 near to Lough More,
it serves the purpose of a barometer, as they readily con-
jecture by its movements, when rain or storm is at hand.
The little stream, after running through the glen, passes by
the eastern side of Lough Fimore (i.e., Great Wood), another
small lake half a mile north of the glen, and sends a tiny
tributary to its waters; thence it pursues its course
to join the river Blackwater, whose ancient name was
Avomnore (Abhain-Mor), at Favour Eoyal.
Apropos of this demesne, I regret to learn from Canon
O'Connor, that
Mr. Moutray, its proprietor, and 'lord of the soil,' some
seven or eight years ago, denuded the Glen of its fine umbra-
geous adornment of trees, and even the holly and hazel had
to yield before the woodman's axe. He [the Canon] was
pleased, however, on revisiting the Glen, last summer, to find
a dense undergrowth of natural trees again growing up. But it
1 Marked in the Ordnance Map, Long. 7g4'30." Lat. 5° 24'
2 In the map it is called Culla Mugg, and is 848 feet high.
218 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
must be many years before they reach the stately proportions
of the former forest trees which lent such a secluded and
picturesque aspect to the spot.
To return to my own description of Altadavin, as it was
on my visit in 1883. The varied scenery of the lonely glen ;
its purling stream, its dense green shade, its rocks and
craggy steeps charmed me — as though I had entered upon
some new fairy- land — with its romantic beauty, which is at
once soft and calm, weird and grand, sometimes even wild
and savage ; and the enchantment grew the more with
every onward step. On passing nearly half way through the
glen, a tongue of rocky ground, spread thick with trees and
underwood, rises to the height of some forty or fifty feet,
intersecting the valley for about three or four hundred paces,
and forming on either side a deep ravine. That to the
right has a path which runs down the whole valley ; whilst
that on the left, through which the stream flows, terminates
by opening out into a meadow-like green sward, enclosed on
the east by the precipitous ridge which here ends, and on
the north and west by hilly slopes, on which rise tall firs
and other trees ; whilst the little stream to the left winds
round these slopes, to continue its course through the rest
of the valley.
This little green meadow, so to call it, is perhaps a
hundred yards long by forty wide, smooth and soft as some
velvet lawn ; and being entirely secluded, in the midst of its
wild and romantic surroundings, from all view of outside
scenery, with the sky of the heavens above for its canopy, it
forms a spot of singular loveliness and charm. On the right,
close under the side of the rocky steep, is a well or fountain
of pure water, of crystal clearness and most refreshing
coldness, springing from the cliff. It is a spot where the
imagination, unaided, may readily draw vivid pictures of
scenes, which, one is told, here had place long ages ago. For
the tradition in the neighbourhood of Altadavin is, that here
in this little meadow St. Patrick preached to the people,
instructed his neophytes, and at this very well — blessed by
himself, and ever since called by his name — he baptized
them in its waters.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 219
From beside the well we ascended the cliff by a very
steep, narrow path, midst a growth of underwood and
tangled froughans.1 About twenty feet above the meadow
there opened on our right, with a view of the valley below, a
small, fairly-level space of ground, paved, as it were, with
large layers of detached rock. Here stood by itself, resting
on layers of rock below the surface, a great block, between
four and five feet high, nearly square — perhaps, as I have
been told, thirty or forty tons weight. In its centre is
a round natural hollow, forming a basin some fourteen
inches in diameter at the top, and a few inches less in depth,
which was then at least half full of clear water.
Following the directions of my cicerone, I baled out the
water. At the bottom of the basin were a large number of
pins which visitors, it may be of many generations, had
deposited there from some traditional custom, or perhaps in
lieu of votive offerings.2 Placing these on the margin of the
basin, I wiped it quite dry, and examined it carefully to see
if there was in it any aperture or perforation by which the
water might ascend, but could discover none. It appeared
to me to be smooth, hard, and solid. After replacing
the pins, 1 watched for a few minutes until I saw the
water reappearing. I was told that it would take some
twenty minutes for it to reach the level at which it was
before, and that the basin was never known to be
without water, whatever might be the heat and dryness
of the season.
We then continued our ascent to the summit of the
1 I.e., bilberry stalks.
2 There are other traditional ways of thus exteriorizing the interior sentiment,
by making "use of some outward sensible token; v.g., there is the practice eo
common at holy wells of leaving behind small pieces of rag attached to the bushes
or shrubs close by. This custom prevails not only in many parts of Ireland, but
survives also to the present day amongst the Protestants of Celtic Cornwall. Or,
to give another example : — On occasion of a Redemptionist mission at Fanad in
Co. Donegal, the late Primate M'Gettigan, then Bishop of Raphoe, conducted
the Fathers to St. Columkille's cell and holy well on the western shore of Lough
S willy, where he was careful to instruct each one of us to observe religiously the
immemorial practice of every visitor casting a large stone over his shoulder ; thus
to add another to the huge pile of accumulated mementos that had been heaped up
behind us by the numerous past generations of devout visitors to the Saint's
rude hermitage.
220 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ridge, some twenty or thirty feet above the rock-basin, where,
on turning a corner to the left, comes close in view a massive
structure of natural rock, wearing rudely the shape of a fixed
altar, with rock rising behind to serve as its reredos. Both
together form one huge monolith. The altar is nearly four
feet in height, not less than six feet in length, and more than
two feet in width. In the middle of the altar-table a portion
is marked out by a deep carving, doubtless for the sacred
vessels at the celebration of Mass. And here alone, it would
seem, has the hand of man been exercised on the
monuments of Altadavin, which, for the rest, are all of
purely natural formation ; and no chisel was ever laid on
them.
Fronting the altar on the gospel-side is another huge
structure of rock, so formed by nature out of a single
massive block as to have the appearance of a gigantic high-
backed chair. It measures from the basement to its head
not less than eight feet ; the square high back rising some
six feet above the seat. In this chair, tradition reports,
St. Patrick sat, and at this altar celebrated the Sacred
Mysteries ; and from time immemorial both altar and chair
have been called by his name.
We then retraced our steps down to the rock-basin. The
water was still rising, and had nearly reached the level at
which we had first found it. I watched till it had done so
and had ceased to flow. My first thought, to which I at
once gave utterance, was a strong desire that the British
Association, when they next held their meeting in Ireland,
should make a pilgrimage to Altadavin, and endeavour to
explain, if they could, by what natural causes this marvellous
phenomenon is effected. It may, no doubt, be capable of
such explanation ; but to my unscientific and superficial view
it appeared to be nothing short of miraculous. For the
block, in which is the basin, rises entirely isolated ; beneath
it are layers of other large detached rocks, so that the idea
of its being fed by a spring from below appears to be out of
the question ; whilst that of the basin being supplied from
the droppings of overhanging boughs is obviously untenable;
moreover, the basin, though of a porous and absorbent
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 221
sandstone,1 always contains a certain quantity of water,
even in the driest seasons.
I can here only state my own experience as to the
measure ol water, and the time it took to rise in the basin,
which were the same on the three visits- I made to the
rock — and Father Callan, the present P.P., tells me that
he has a like experience as to the time. But I have since
been informed that these points are not, perhaps, to be relied
upon as always uniform ; and, of course, after heavy rains
the basin may be found full and overflowing.
I do not remember being told whether, according to any
local tradition, this rock-basin held any place in the religious
ceremonial of St. Patrick, or what that might be. I learn
from Canon O'Connor that experts who have visited Alta-
davin are of opinion that the rocky ridge which intersects
the valley is a moraine, consisting of immense boulders of
sandstone, and that the hollows and basins found in many
of them were formed naturally, perhaps during the glacial
period, by the friction of harder substances upon them
in some mighty convulsion or upheaval of nature. Many
of these huge blocks are, on the other hand, quite smooth ;
according as they were torn up from their situs in the
bed-rock.
Amongst the more notable visitants at the Glen in recent
times have been Archbishop M'Hale, in 1870, in company
with Bishop M'Nally of Clogher, who then resided in that
town ; Bishop Loughlin, of Brooklyn ; Monsignor Farley,
now Assistant-Bishop of New York, on the occasion of the
Dedication of St. M'Cartin's Cathedral at Monaghan ; and
the Most Eev. Dr. Healy, Bishop of Clonfert, in company
with Dr. Lennon> of Maynooth, and Canon O'Connor, the
18th of August, 1897. The Most Eev. John Hughes,
Archbishop of New York, was brought up in the neighbour-
hood of the Glen. I have sought in vain for some reference
in ancient authors to Altadavin ; whilst in writers of more
1 Canon O'Hanlon. in his notice of Altadavin, says that the rock there is
' pronounced by experts to be of a very silicious sandstone of the Yoredale
series.' — (17 March, vol. iii., p. 670.)
222 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
modern date I have met no mention of its name except in
O'Hanlon's Lives, and in Lewis's Dictionary.1
The connection claimed for Altadavin with St. Patrick
rests solely on the tradition that lives in the neighbourhood,
which is supported by many reasons of the highest proba-
bility, and these it is now my object to set forth. It is, in
the first place, quite certain, from the Tripartite and other
Lives, that the Saint spent some time, on more than one
occasion, at Clogher, which is only four miles distant from
the Glen of Altadavin ; and that he made several apostolic
journeys in its neighbourhood. On his way to found the
churches of Donagh, Tehollan, Tullycerbet, Aughnamullen,
and Donaghmoyne, as described in the Tripartite, his course
lay in the direction of the glen. Between Altadavin and
Donagh he blessed a well, since called St. Patrick's Well,
situated in a remote locality, in the townland of Derryveagh,
where a tongue of that townland extends between Derry-
nerget and Dernalusset, near Carrickroe, before referred to
as one of the three districts of Errigal-Truagh, where our
fathers said Mass, and preached on the Sundays of their
mission in that parish.
On the lands of Lislana [says Canon O'Hanlon], not far from
Clogher,2 in the direction of Augbentain, may be seen another
St. Patrick's chair and holy well. They are situated in a most
exquisitely beautiful wooded glen. The ' chair ' is simply a
hollow recess in the natural rock, and the well is a tiny spring
close to it.3
Again, we learn from the Lives that St. Patrick frequently
in his apostolate came into direct antagonism with the
whole system of Druidism ; since its prevalent influence was
one of the chief hindrances to the conversion of many to
Christianity* Hence he opposed the Druids wherever he
found them, overturning their idols and pillar-stones, and
burning their books. Thus we read in the Book of Lecan,
that St. Patrick at one time burnt one hundred and eighty
1 O'Hanlon, vol. iii., p. 670. Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837,
vol. i., p. 609 ; "Errigal-Trough."
2 That is three miles west,
s Vol. iii., p. 678.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 223
druidical books. And it was on account of the Saint's
determined opposition to their superstitions that the Druids
made many attempts on his life. Now, it is generally
thought, and on very probable grounds, that Altadavin was
specially set apart by the Druids for the exercise of their
religious worship. The wild rocky glen is just the sort of
place they would naturally select : —
For [writes Bishop Healy] the Druids worshipped not in
temples made with hands, but in ' groves,' and on ' high places '
under the shade of the spreading oaks. . . . Their dwellings
were surrounded with oak groves whose dark foliage threw a
sombre and solemn shade over the rude altars of unhewn stone
on which they offered theii sacrifices.1
Here they could in secret solitude perform their weird
and mystic rites at the overshadowed well, and immolate
their victims at the altar on the high place. The legendary
folk-lore which still lingers among the people from ancient
time, and has been embodied in the tales of William
Carleton, who was born and brought up in the immediate
neighbourhood of the glen, point to it as a spot of awe and
marvel. Moreover, its proximity to Clogher would render
the connection of the Druids with Altadavin all the more
probable. For Clogher was the chief city of an ancient
territory, known as Ergal (Anglice, Oriel), the people of
which were distinguished as Orghialla ; and at Clogher was
the principal royal residence. I will here again avail myself
of a quotation from the Bishop of Clonfert : —
One of the principal functions of the Druids was to act as
haruspices, that is, to foretell the future, to unveil the hidden,
to pronounce incantations, and ascertain by omens lucky and
unlucky days. Hence we always find some of them living with
the king in his royal rath ; they are not only his priests, but still
more his guides and counsellors on all occasions of danger and
emergency. It is probable that one or more of them abode in
the raths of all the great nobles who claimed to be righs, or
kinglets in their own territories. They were sworn enemies of
Christianity, and frequently attempted to take St. Patrick's life
by violence or poison. In the remote districts of the country
1 Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars, p. 3.
224 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
some of them remained for several centuries after the island
ge'nerally became Christian ; and to this day we can find traces
of ancient Druidism in the superstitions of the people.1
Again, at Clogher, was one of the principal colleges of
the Bards 2 who, with the Druids and Brehons, were the
three great orders and privileged classes of pagan Ireland.
The Bards were allied with the Druids in many of their
superstitions ; from all such St. Patrick sought to purify
the Order, for, so far from being hostile to it, he encouraged
it much. In the college, at Clogher, the Bards studied in
order to qualify themselves for taking the degree of Ollamb,
that is, chief poet, or doctor in poetry. But as this degree
could not be obtained without the performance of certain
rites which involved offerings to idol gods, St. Patrick
abolished these profane rites, and thus made the profession
pure and lawful for those who should become Christians.
This college, however, seems to have gradually declined
before the monastery founded by St. MacCairthinn, the first
Bishop of Clogher, by the direction of St. Patrick.3 On
this, Walker, in his Historical Memoirs, 1786, observes : —
* All the eminent schools delectably situated, which were
established by the Christian clergy in the fifth century,
were erected on the ruins of these colleges.' *
Clogher had been from ancient times a special seat of
pagan worship. There was there a celebrated oracular
pillar-stone, dedicated to a god called Kermand Kel stack,
covered over with plates of gold. According to legend, a
hero of antiquity, Connor MacNessa, in the first century of
the Christian era, consulted the oracle at Clogher, which
predicted that, though a younger son, he should obtain the
sovereignty of Ulster. The prophecy proved true. He
became king of Ulster; and the ruins of his palace of
Emania, now called Navan Fort, are still seen two miles
west of the city of Armagh.5 Cathal Maguire, a leading
1 Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars, pp. 4, 5.
a Irish Druids and Old Ireland's Religions, p. 37. Bonwick, 1894. He
mentions other colleges of the Ollambs at Armagh, Lismore, and Tamer.
3Brennan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, c. ii., p. 31.
*Bonwick, p. 37.
5 See Pagan Ireland, by Wood- Martin, M.R.I.A., 1895, and Joyce's Short
History of Ireland, p. 36.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 225
ecclesiastic of Clogher, who died in 1498, records that the
stone was preserved up to his times (doubtless without the
gold) inside the porch of the cathedral. From this stone,
Cloch-oir, ' stone of gold,' according to Colgan and others,
Clogher derived its name. But others hold this etymology
doubtful ; since it is always written Clochar ; i.e., ' a stony
place,' and not Clochoir; besides, there are other places in
Ireland called Clochar.1
I have mentioned the above details, which otherwise
might appear irrelevant, with the view of showing that
St. Patrick, during his residence at Clogher, and his evange-
lization of that city and its neighbourhood, would certainly
have directed all his efforts to extirpating the prevalent
pagan and druidical rites, and to diverting their profane
objects to Christian uses ; for, as Petrie says : ' It was not
uncommon for St. Patrick to dedicate pagan monuments to
the worship of the true God.' 2 And, in one of the Lives of
St. Patrick it is related that he preached at a fountain (well)
which the Druids worshipped as a god.3
The following passage from the Tripartite relates some-
thing analogous to the phenomenon of the rock-basin : — •
' Patrick went into Grecraide of Loch Technet. He founded
a church there, to wit in Drumne ; and by it he dug a well,
and it hath no stream [flowing] into it or out of it ; but it
is full for ever ; and this is its name, Bith-ldn (' Ever-
full').'4 It thus appears in Tirechan's Collectanea: 'Et
perexit ad tramitem Gregirgi, et fundavit aecclessiam in
Drummse, et fontem fodi [vit juxta earn : non habet flu] men
in se et de se, sed plenus semper.'5 What is here called
Grecraide of Loch Technet, and Trames Gregirgi (or
Gregaridhi) — which means the lower boundary of the
district of Gregary, now Lough Gara, once known as Loch
Technet — is co-extensive with the barony of Coolavin,
Co. Sligo.
1 Todd's St. Patrick, pp. 129, 407.
*3omcickt p. 138.
3 Ibid., p. 240.
4 Tripartite, Partii,, Rolls' Series, 1887* P. i , i ,, 100.
5 Ibid., Partii., p. 319.
VOL. lit. $
2'26 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Altadavin, locally pronounced as if written Altadhowen,
has been interpreted by some to mean ' the glen of the
gods, or of the demons,' but its truer meaning, generally
accepted by the learned, is the glen of the descendants
of Damene, Alt-ui-damene, Damhin or Davin being a
patronymic of the ancient king or dynast of the territory
of Oriel,1 who resided at Clogher. Hence Clogher in the
time of St. Patrick, and later on, is called in the Annals,
Clogher-mac-damene ; i.e., Clogher of the sons of Damene.2
But before any mention of the royal line of Damene, we
have historical record of Clogher and its kings. The follow-
ing is from the Four Masters ' —
The age of Christ, 111. The first year of the reign of
Feidhlimidh Keachtmar, 3 son of Truathal Teachtmar, as king
over Ireland. Baine, daughter of Seal [king of Finland], was
the mother of this Feidhlimidh. It was from her Cnoc- Baine in
Oighialla [Oriel] was called, for it was there she was interred.
It was by her also Kath-mor of Magh-Leamhna [Moy Leney] in
Ulster was erected.4
Queen Baine, in her day, must have been a sovereign of
more than ordinary mark, for she still lives in popular
legend and story, though her memory has been invested in
the course of ages with much that is fabulous and grotesque.5
Two great monuments that record her reign endure to
the present day, viz., the fort of Eathmore, which she built
for her royal residence, and Cnocbaine, the place of her
interment.
Canon O'Connor has conclusively identified Cnoc-Baine
with the Hill of Knockmany — a modernized form of the same
name — very near to Clogher, where is what Mr. Wakeman,
the distinguished artist and antiquarian, entitled ' the
1 O'Flaherty's Cgygia, translated by Hely, Bookiii., ch 75.
2 Mac in Irit-h means son, and Ui (or O) grandson or descendant.
:l He is commonly known as King Felimy. For records of his reign, see
O 'Flaherty and Kvating.
* Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Matters, from the earliest
period to 1616, vol. i., p. 103. Edited by John O'Donovan, LL.D., M.R.I.A.
1856.
5 Thus the witch Oouagh, in Carletou's Ltycnd of Enockmavy, is said to
bo no other thuu the historical Queen Bainu.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 227
megalithic sepulchral chamber of Knockmany.'1 Here
Queen Baine was interred, and a remarkable cromlech of
the second century stands over her grave. The name of
Queen Baine is also still preserved in that of the hills and
townland of Mullaghbeney, situated in close proximity to
Knockmany, and in Knockabeny, near Carrickroe. Canon
O'Connor likewise identifies Rathmore (the Great Rath),
erected by Queen Baine, with the large earthen fort situate
within the palace grounds of Clogher, which was the chief
stronghold and place of residence in after ages of the princes
of Oriel.
Moy Leney, or Leinain, which was also anciently called
Clossach, is described by Colgan as ' a level district of
Tyrone in the diocese of Clogher.' It extended for some
distance west of Clogher to beyond Ballygawley, which
places, as also Errigal-Keeroge2 and Augher to the norih,
were included in its area. The river Blackwater flows
through the territory. Near Augher was the ford, Ath-ergal,
across the river, where passed the interesting conversation
between St. MacCartin and St. Patrick, to be given presently
from the Tripartite. A stream formerly called the Laune,
or Launy, which has its rise to the south among the hills
beyond Ferdross, flows by Clogher to the Blackwater, through
Moy Leny, whence it derives its name, which it preserved
long after that district had become merged in the more
extensive territory called Oriel, which, besides a part of
Tyrone, embraced the counties of Louth, Monaghan, Armagh,
and Fermanagh.
As Lemain was the scene of several interesting incidents
narrated in the Tripartite of St. Patrick's missionary work
whilst he was in the immediate neighbourhood of Clogher
1 See his learned article under that heading in the Journal of the Royal
Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 1876.
2 Errigal (Aireagal, pronounced Arrigle), according to Joyce, primarily
means a habitation, and is often applied to an oratory, hermitage, or small
church. He connects it with the Latin oraculum. Thus Errigal-Truagh would
mean the church in 'the barony of Trough (anciently called Truich Ched
Chladaigh). Others say it means a bright fishing weir. Other? , again, say
that Errigal, Ergal, Oirghialla, are various forms of the same name, Anglicc,
Oriel ; and that these two parishes of Errigal retain to the present day the
etymon of the old territory.
228 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and Altadavin, I shall here recall them, and shall do so in
the original words of St. Evin, his biographer : — l
Once as St. Patrick was coming from Clochar from the
north, his champion, to wit, Bishop MacCairthinn, lifted him
over a difficult place.2 This is what he said after lifting Patrick :
' Oh ! oh !' ' My God's doom !' saith Patrick, ' it was not usual
for thee to utter that word.' ' I am now an old man, and I am
infirm,' saith Bishop MacCairthinn, ' and thou hast left my
comrades in churches, and I am still on the road.' ' I will
leave thee, then, in a church,' saith Patrick, 'that shall not be
very near, lest there be familiarity [?], and shall not be very far,
so that mutual visiting between us be continued.' And Patrick
then left Bishop MacCairthinn in Clogher, and with him fhe
placed] the [silver reliquary called] Domnach Airgit,8 which
had been sent to Patrick from heaven when he was at sea coming
towards Ireland.
Thereafter Patrick went into Lemain : Findabair 4 is the
name of the hill on which Patrick preached. For three days and
three nights he was preaching, and it seemed to them not longer
than one hour. Then Bridgit fell asleep at the preaching, and
Patrick let her not be wakened. And Patrick asked her after-
wards what she had seen. Dixit ilia ; ' I saw white assemblies,5
and light-coloured oxen, and white corn-fields, speckled oxen
behind them, and black oxen after these. Afterwards I saw
sheep and swine and dogs and wolves quarrelling with each
other. Thereafter I saw two stones, one of the twain a small
stone, and the other a large. A shower dropt on them both. The
little stone increased at the shower, and silvery sparks would
break forth from it. The large stone, however, wasted away.'
' Those,' saith Patrick, ' are the two sons of Echaid, son of
Crimthann.' Coirbre Damargait6 believed, and Patrick blessed
1 According to the learned^the Vita Keptima or Tripartite (i.e., Life in three
parts) excells all the other six original Lives which compose the Acta S. Patricii
in Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga, in length, antiquity, and authenticity. St, Evin,
who wrote it, was living in 504, and had probably seen and conversed with
St. Patrick, who died in 493.
2 This was Ath-ergal. See above. St. Patrick was generally accompanied
in his missionary journeys by his family or household, twenty-four in number,
all in holy orders. Their names and functions are given in the Tripartite. Of
these Bishop MacCairthinn was his champion, or rather strong man, to bear
him over the floods, and perhaps defend him against nide assaults in an age of
lawless violence. See Ireland's Ancient Schools, &c., ch. iii., p. 65.
:} This was a copy of the Gospels, some fragments of which still remain,
preserved in the shrine called Domnach-Airgid, now in the Museum of the
Royal Irish Academy.
* Or Finn Abhuir, now called Findermere, near Clogher.
5 Canditatorum synodum, Tr. Th., p. 150.
r> The younger son, from whom a long line of Oriel princes and many
Saints were descended — whilst Bressal, the elder ton, died childless.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 229
him and blessed his seed. Bressal, however, refused [to become a
Christian] , and Patrick cursed him. Patrick, besides, expounded
the vision of Brigit in an excellent manner.1
Patrick raised Echaid, son of Crimthann, from death. Echaid
had a daughter, to wit, Cinnu. Her father desired to wed her to
a man of good lineage, namely, to the son of Cormac, son of
Cairbre son of Niall. As she was walking, she met holy
Patrick with his companions.2 Patrick preached to her to unite
herself to the Spiritual Spouse, and she believed and followed
Patrick, and Patrick baptized her afterwards. Now, while her
father was a-seeking her, to give her to her husband, she and
Patrick went to converse with him. Patrick asked her father
to allow her to be united to the Eternal Spouse. So Echu
allowed that; if heaven were given to him for her, and he
himself were not compelled to be baptized. Patrick pro-
mised those two things, although it was difficult for him
[to do sol. Then the king allowed his daughter Cinnu to be
united to Christ, and Patrick caused her to be a female disciple
of his, and delivered her to a certain virgin to be taught, namely
[to] Cechtumbar3 of Druimm Dubain, in which place both
virgins have their rest. Now, after many years, the aforesaid
Echu reached the end of his life ; and when his friends were
standing around him, he spake : ' Bury me not,' he saith, ' until
Patrick shall have come.' And when Echu had finished these
words he sent forth his spirit. Patrick, however, was then at
Saball Patraic, in Ulster, and Echu's death was made manifest to
him : and he decided on journeying to Clochar Mace n Doimni.
There he found Echu [who had been] lifeless for twenty-four
hours. When Patrick entered the house in which the body was
lying, he put forth the folk who were biding around the corpse.4
He bent [his] knees to the Lord, and shed tears, and prayed, and
afterwards said with a clear voice : ' 0 king Echu, in the name
of Almighty God, arise !' And straightway the king arose at the
voice of God's servant. So when he sat down steadily, he
spake, and the weeping and wailing of the people were turned
into joy. And then holy Patrick instructed the king in the method
of the faith, and baptized him. And Patrick ordered him, before
the people, to set forth the punishments of the ungodly, and the
blessedness of the saints, and that he should preach to the
1 Visionera, quse erat, et prsesentis £t futuri status Ecclesiae Hibernise
imago, coram adstantibus exposuit S. Patricias. — Tr. Th., p. 150. 'A pre-
diction,' says Dr. Healy, ' that has been wonderfully verified by the event.' —
Ireland's Ancient Schools, &c., p. 111.
2 See supra, p. 228, note 2.
3 Cetamaria, Colgan, Tr. Th.t p. 150. She is also called Ethembria,
Cethuberis, Cectamania.
* Compare Matt. ix. 25 ; Mark v. 40 ; Luke viii. 54 ; Acts ix. 40.
230 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
commonalty that all things which are made known to them of
the pains of hell and of the joys of the blessed who have obeyed,
were true. As had been ordered to him, Echu preached of both
things. And Patrick gave him his choice, to wit, fifteen years in
the sovranty of his country, if he would live quietly and justly,
or going (forthwith) to heaven, if this seemed better to him.
But the king at once said : ' Though the kingship of the whole
globe should be given to me, and though I should live many
years, I should count it as nothing in comparison to the blessed-
ness that hath been shown to me. Wherefore I choose more
and more that I may be saved from the sorrows of the present
world, and that I may return to the everlasting joys which have
been shown to me.' Patrick saith to him, ' Go in peace,- and
depart unto God.' Echu gave thanks to God in the presence of
his household, and he commended his soul to the Lord and to
Patrick, and sent forth his spirit to heaven.'
This quotation is the more interesting, as containing the
only mention made of St. Brigid in the Lives of St. Patrick.
The Saint had just then founded the church of Clogher for
St. MacCairthinn, who, it is stated in Tirechan's Collections
in the Boo A' of Armagh, was the uncle of the holy Brigid —
1 Brigtae ' — the abbreviated form of the name. This fact
would explain her presence at Clogher on this interesting
occasion.2
The beautiful story of ' St. Patrick and King Eochaidh '
has been clothed in graceful verse, adorned with poetic
description, by Aubrey De Vere, in his Legends of St. Patrick.
Druim-Dubhain (pronounced, I have been told, Drum-
da vin and Drumhain) was a church, says Colgan, close
beside Clogher.
To the east of Eathmore [writes Canon O'Connor] in the
hollow ground fronting the Palace, are to be seen two adjoining
springs of limpid water, tastefully surrounded by a brick-work
enclosure. They still are called to this day ' The Sisters,' and
were so called on account of a convent which stood on the
sloping ridge towards the south of these springs, which ridge of
hill is yet called the 'Nun's Hill.' This hill would seem to
correspond with the ancient name, Druim-dribhain, on which
stood a celebrated convent.
It had been originally founded by St. Patrick himself,
1 Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. Part iii., Rolls' Series. 1887, pp. 175-181.
2 Ireland's Awient Schools, &c., p. 111.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 231
and over it he had placed St. Cechtumbar, the first of all
the Irish virgins who received the veil from the Saint. To
her care he entrusted Cinnu, the daughter of King Echu,
who entered the convent, and in time became superioress.
She was still living in 482. Both she and her saintly novice-
mistress were interred in the church of Druim-dubhain,
together with many other holy virgins, and seven bishops.
I would fain linger over many other Saints, disciples of
St. Patrick, gathered from around Clogher and Altadavin ;
such as St. MacCarthinn, Clogher's first bishop ;
St. Fanchea, V. (Jan. 1), known also as St. Faine ; her
three sisters, Saints; and her brother, Enda, whom she
drew from his life as a soldier, to the immediate service
of Christ, to become the celebrated abbot of Aran, and a
great Saint; St. Dympna,1 too, V.M., surnamed Scene, or
the fugitive, who had to fly, in company with the old priest,
St. Gerebern, who had baptized her, and a married couple
as servants, from her native Clogher to Belgium, that she
might avoid the face of her unnatural father. He pursued
her to her retreat at Gheel, where, after causing the holy
priest to be slain by his officers, and on their refusal to
murder his daughter, then himself beheaded her with his own
sword. From that time, throughout Belgium and Holland,
she has been venerated and invoked as the titular Saint of
those afflicted with insanity. Hence Gheel for some twelve
centuries has been a sanatorium for persons subject to
nervous and mental disorders, where they are treated with
great success, and innumerable cases of cure and relief are
recorded to have been obtained by visiting her shrine. In
certain parts of Ulster St. Dympna is still held in high
veneration, and one parish in Monaghan, ten miles from
Clogher, viz., Tedavnet, takes its name from the virgin
Martyr.2
I could make mention of many more, but must forbear ;
1 Called also Damnoda arid Domnat, May loth.
2 See the brief notices of early Irish saints in Joyce's admirable Short
History of Ireland, pp. 172-179. The name Te-davnet is thus derived: Te,
i.e., Teach, a house ; and Damnoda, orDavnet, i.e., Dympna. Hence, the house,
or religious foundation of Dympna.
232 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and will conclude with the touching words of St. Patrick
himself in his Confession, his last work, written as he was
drawing to his end, and reviewing the wondrous things for
Ireland that God had wrought through him : ' The sons of
the Scoti and the daughters of the chieftains appear now as
monks and virgins of Christ, especially one blessed Scottish
lady of noble birth, and of great beauty, who was adult,
and whom I baptized.' This lady is believed to be
St. Cechtumbar, who was the first to receive the veil
from St. Patrick's own hands, and whom he appointed to
preside over what hence was probably the earliest of his
religious foundations in Ireland, namely, the Convent of
Pruim-dubhain at Clogher.
T. LIVIUS, C.SS.R.
ARCHBISHOP TROY
THE POLICY OF ' BALLY ' AND CONCILIATION
II.
IT was at one time surmised that Dr. Troy might be
Coadjutor of Armagh. But a communication was
received by Archbishop Butler, from the Cardinal Prefect of
Propaganda, Salviati, dated November 17, 1781, intimating
that there was no intention of deviating from an old-
established rule drawn up for the General Congregation, by
Cardinal Prefect Corsini, to the effect, that it would not be
expedient to appoint a member of a religious order to the
primacy. The see of Dublin having become vacant,
October 29, 1786, by the death of Archbishop Carpenter, a
strong opposition was organized against the appointment of
Dr. Troy as his successor.1
Dr. Butler, writing, December 2, of that year, to
1 The appointment of Dr. Troy to Dublin was carried with difficulty,
though strongly protected. No objection was taken to his character. He
had studied at Rome, and was respected there, but the fact of his being a
Dominican Friar was by many considered as a valid objection, — Casflimir/h
Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 457.
ARCHBISHOP TROY 233
Dr. Plunket of Meath, refers to the appointment of a
proper person to the see of Dublin : —
The Archbishop of the capital of Ireland, being, as it were,
the representative of us all in the eyes of Parliament, Govern-
ment, and the whole nation; nay, to Rome itself, his appointment
is interesting to our national Church, to our hierarchy, and to the
general good of religion. I am told by several that Dr. Troy is
most likely to be the elect. All I can say is, I should be afraid,
since the late storm against the Regulars, and from the Act of
Parliament, and from what was confidently told me by one high in
the Administration, in the affair of a coadjutor to the Primate, that
the voting at the present critical time for a Regular might hurt
the cause of religion on a future day.
On the very next day after the penning of this letter,
December 2, Dr. Troy's translation to Dublin was sanctioned
by Pope Pius VI., having been recommended by Propaganda,
on the 27th of November, same year. Dr. Troy took
possession of the Metropolitan See, February 15, 1787, to
the greatest satisfaction of all classes in the Archdiocese, as
D'Alton assures us.1,
In 1787, there was another fierce outbreak of Bightboy-
ism. Fitzgibbon, the Attorney-General, brought in a bill
for preventing tumultuous assemblages. Amongst other
insulting clauses, this proposed measure included one
directing the magistrates to demolish the Eoman Catholic
chapels in which any combinations should have been formed
or an unlawful oath administered. Archbishop Butler
had shown, in his Justification of the Tenets of the
Eoman Catholic Religion, that many of the Rightboys had
evinced as much enmity towards the Catholic bishops and
priests, who denounced them, as they had towards Protestant
ministers; and had taken forcible possession of those chapels
in which their acts were most reprobated. He mentions
fifty Catholic chapels which the rioters nailed up and
blockaded. An accusation was also urged against the
Rightboys by Mr. Fitzgibbon ; that it was their custom
to drag those supposed not to be friendly to them from their
beds at night, and to bury them alive in a grave lined with
1 Archbishops of Dublin, p, 483.
234 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
thorns, or to place them naked on horseback, and tied to a
saddle covered with thorns : and, in addition, to have their
ears sawed off. Mr. Grattan, whilst anxious to check the
lawlessness, called the attention of the House to the
condition of the peasantry of the south, who were ground
to the earth, having to pay £6 and £1 an acre for land, with
a wage of only 5d. or 6d. a day ; and, in addition, a lO.s. or
12s. tithe for potatoes. In Connaught potatoes paid no
tithe ; and the hearth tax in the North, only a very moderate
one. Mr. Grattan denounced the penal clause pf the bill
in his most vigorous style : —
He had heard of transgressors being dragged from the sanc-
tuary, but never of the sanctuary being demolished. This would
go far to hold out the laws as a sanction to sacrilege. . If the
Roman Catholics were of a different religion from Protestants,
yet they had one common God, and one common Saviour with
the hon. gentleman ; and surely the God of the Protestant temple
was the God of the Catholic temple. What, then, did the clause
enact ? That the magistrate should pull down the temple of his
God ; and should it be rebuilt, and as often as it was rebuilt for
three years, he should again prostrate it, and so proceed, in repe-
tition of his abominations, and thus stab the criminal through
the sides of his God : a new idea, indeed ! But this was not all ;
the magistrate was to sell by auction the altar of the Divinity to
pay for the sacrilege that had been committed in His house.
A petition against this abominable clause was presented
to the Irish Parliament, signed by Dr. Troy and the
Archbishops, on the part of the clergy ; and by the Earl of
Kenmare, on behalf of the Catholic gentry and laity : —
Your humble petitioners have been most earnest, whether
in the midst of foreign alarms, or intestine commotions, to prove
the sincerity of those sacred and unreserved assurances which
they gave of allegiance to their Sovereign King George the Third,
and zeal and goodwill to their country and fellow-subjects.
Popular commotions are not peculiar to any period of time,
any nation or religious denomination of the people, but happen
in every age and every country, and so far from being the
offspring of the Roman Catholic tenets, are in open violation of
them.
In the suppression of the disturbances which happened of late,
in the south of Ireland, the Catholic nobility and gentry, their
ARCHBISHOP TROY 235
prelates, and inferior clergy, have been most active, and will
continue the same strenuous exertions on every future occasion.
During the late paroxysms of popular phrenzy, everything
most sacred in your petitioners' eyes has been abused and
profaned, chapels have been nailed up and blockaded, their pastors,
threatened and insulted in the most opprobrious manner, and in
many places driven from their parishes.
In a Bill brought into the honourable House, they have read
with equal concern and astonishment, a clause empowering the
civil magistrate to pull down, level, and prostrate any Eoman
Catholic chapel in which, or in the vicinity of which, any
unlawful oath is tendered, upon the testimony of one witness.
They consider such a clause disgraceful to their religion as
Christians ; injurious to their honour, character, and loyalty as
subjects (as naturally impressing the mind of their Sovereign
with the notion that his Catholic subjects are combining, in the
most awful and sacred of all places, against his crown and
dignity), and eventually destructive of the indulgence which of
late a mild and humane legislature has granted them, after a long
trial of their fidelity, while it laboured under the severest oppres-
sions ; as such a clause, besides holding forth a suspicion of their
allegiance, has a natural tendency to afford a pretext for repealing
the favours already granted to the whole body of their communion,
in case any deluded individual, either actuated by licentiousness,
or stimulated by their enemies, should oppose the magistrate in
the prostration of chapels which were left standing in times of
persecution.
Your petitioners have also seen with great apprehension and
concern, in another clause of the said Bill, to prevent outrageous
obstructions of divine service, that any protection of the Eoman
Catholic chapels is carefully avoided, while the Dissenting
meeting-houses are specifically provided for, in an equal degree
with the churches of the Established religion — a distinction which
your petitioners can consider in no other light than as meaning
to lay their houses of worship open to all the violations of any
lawless rabble, and thereby bring additional disrespect upon the
only influence in their power, which they have so anxiously
exercised to preserve peace and order.
Amidst the profligacy of morals, of late so prevalent amongst
the lower orders, who have shaken off that restraint under which
they had been heretofore kept by their pastors, and from other
collateral causes, it is to be feared, that the utmost advantage
would be taken of such an apparent liberty ; and it is too evident
that not only one witness, but several will be easily found, who
would swear before a magistrate that such oaths as are prohibited
had been tendered in the specified places, although no such oaths
had been so administered.
236 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
As was usually the case in the Irish Parliament, more
candour and liberality were to be found with the English
statesmen than with Irish Government officials ; and so
Mr. Orde, the Secretary, remarked that : —
He never could have concurred in the clause for pulling down
the chapels, and he was happy that it was abandoned by his
friend. He lamented that anything should have appeared in
print purporting that those insurrections had arisen from a popish
conspiracy. He declared that he not only did not believe it true,
but in several places he knew it not to be true. He affirmed that
the insurgents had in some places deprived the Koman Catholic
clergy of one-half their income.
April, 1789, on the occasion of the recovery of George III.
from his fit of insanity, a solemn High Mass was celebrated
in the old chapel of Francis-street, by Dr. Troy. A new
Te Deum, specially composed by the celebrated Giordani,
was then sung for the first time. Plowden informs us
that
So illustrious an assemblage had never met in a Catholic place
of worship, in Ireland, since the Eeformation. Besides the
principal part of their own nobility and gentry, there were
present the Duke of Leinster, the Earls and Countesses of
Belvedere, Arran, and Portarlington, Countesses of Carhampton
and Ely, Lords Tyrone, Valentia, and Delain, M. De La louche
Mr. Grattan, Major Doyle, and several other persons of the first
distinction.1
When the country was disturbed by the Protestant
Peep-of-Day Boys, and the Catholic Defenders, Dr. Troy
zealously co-operated with the other Catholic prelates to
suppress their disturbances, and was instrumental in
establishing comparative harmony in the archdiocese of
Dublin. As an acknowledgment of these important services,
the Marquis of Buckingham transmitted the following letter
to Dr. Troy :—
SIR, — The infirm state of my health having laid me under the
necessity of requesting his Majesty's permission to resign the
government of Ireland, I feel that I cannot close the public duties
of my administration without expressing to you the strong
sense I entertain of the zeal and loyalty which you have mani-
1 Hist. Review, vol ii., pp. 273, 274.
ARCHBISHOP TROY 237
fested upon every occasion towards his Majesty's person and
government.
My sense of the very praiseworthy conduct of the Catholics
of Ireland (as a body), will be best collected from the testimonials
which I have borne to their good conduct in my official and
public communications with them. But I wish to avail myself
of this opportunity of repeating that testimony to you individually
as placed at the head of the Catholic Church, in Dublin, and of
assuring you of the satisfaction I shall feel in representing to
his Majesty your meritorious conduct in endeavouring to impress
upon the mind of your people every principle that can tend to
endear to them the blessings of our Constitution, and the person
of our excellent Sovereign.
I have the honour to be, sir,
Your very humble servant,
NUGENT BUCKINGHAM.
STOWE, October 25, 1789,
Eight Eev. Dr. TBOY,
Titular Archbishop of the
Eoman Catholic Church of Dublin.
In Cogan's Meath,1 a letter appears, dated July 24, 1789,
addressed by Dr. Butler of Cashel, to Dr. Plunket of Meath,
which cast a curious side-light on the ecclesiastical history
of the time : —
You have heard before this that the Eev. Dr. Lanigan has
been appointed, on the 25th of last June, Bishop of Ossory,
notwithstanding the strong postulation sent to Eome in favour of
the Eev. Father O'Connor (a Dominican), and subscribed to by
three metropolitans, Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, and I may say,
by the four, as my name, I find by what my agent writes to me,
was also affixed to it, not only without my consent, but with my
express and strongest opposition to it. Several other bishops, I
am told, had joined in the demand ; nay, the Queen of Portugal
and Mr. Fitzherbert, the late Secretary, were gained over to
second the cause. Such a push in favour of a friar, had it suc-
ceeded, would have severely wounded not only our hierarchy,
the authority and influence of our secular clergy, but would
have also furnished our enemies when anything would be
proposed in our favour in Parliament, with powerful arguments
to oppose it. Thanks to God ! His Providence has most season-
ably prevented the evil, and I am the more happy at it as I am
confident it was on account of what I wrote last May to Cardinal
Antonelli, and to my agent, of the fatal consequences that might
1 Vol. iii., p. 131.
238 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ensue to religion from Eome's naming those in preference to the
vacant sees of this kingdom, who are the most obnoxious to
Government. Your lordship remembers how near we were to
seeing the nomination of the E. C. bishops of Ireland pass into
the hands of the King, and can't but feel with me the imprudence
of takihg a step which could recall an event we had at the time
I allude to, such difficulty to ward off. Dr. Troy's and the friar's
interest, Mr. Bodkin, my agent writes to me, begins to decline
very fast.
In 1791, divisions made their appearance amongst the
Irish Catholics. Two parties were formed in their General
Committee, the aristocratic and the democratic. The
former regarded with suspicion and dislike the relations
between some of the agents of the democratic party and the
French revolutionists ; and, moreover, they did not approve
of their sturdy and outspoken method of seeking redress
from the Irish Parliament. Sixty-four members of the
aristocratic party seceded from the Committee. As a result
of a temporary compromise, Bichard Burke, only son of tbe
celebrated Edmund Burke, was invited over from England,
and appointed Parliamentary Agent to the Irish Catholics.
The" object of this appointment was that Mr. Burke would be
guided by the advice of his illustrious father ; and that what-
ever was supported by the great opponent of the French
Revolution could not be supposed to rest on French
principles.
The result was a very moderate measure of relief, intro-
duced by Sir H. Langrishe, and seconded by Mr. Secretary
Hobart. The bill, when passed (1) admitted Catholics to the
practice and profession of law ; (2) it took away the necessity
for a licence from the Protestant bishops to open a Catholic
school, as enjoined by the Act of 1782 ; (3) it repealed the
Statute which prohibited and made illegal marriages between
Catholics and Protestants ; (4) it removed those obstructions
to arts and manufactures that limited the number of
apprentices.
The Catholics were not at all satisfied with the miserable
measure of relief granted by this Act. By direction of their
committee, Mr. Simon Butler, brother of Lord Mountgarret,
published a pamphlet, entitled a Digest of the Popery Laws,
ARCHBISHOP TROY 239
bringing into one view the whole body of penalties and
disabilities to which Catholics still remained subject : —
Excluded from every trust, power, or emolument of the State,
civil or military ; excluded from all the benefits of the Consti-
tution in all its parts ; excluded from all corporate rights and
immunities ; expelled from grand juries, restrained in petty juries ;
excluded from every direction, from every trust, from every
incorporated society, from every establishment, occasional or
fixed, instituted for public defence, public police, public morals, or
public convenience ; from the Bench, from the bank, from the
exchange, from the university, from the College of Physicians ;
from what are they not excluded ?
A vindication of the conduct and principles of the Koman
Catholics of Ireland from the charges made against them
by certain grand juries and other interested bodies was also
published by order of the committee :—
As to tumult and sedition, they challenge those who make
the assertion to show the instance. .Where have been the riots,
or tumults, or seditions which can in the most remote degree be
traced to the proceedings or publications of this committee ?
They know too well how fatal to their hopes of emancipation any-
thing like disturbance must be. Independent of the danger to
those hopes, it is more peculiarly their interest to preserve peace and
good order than that of any body of men in the community. They
have a large stake in the country, much of it vested in that kind of
property which is most peculiarly exposed to danger from popular
tumult. The General Committee would suffer more by one week's
disturbance than all the members of the two Houses of Parliament.
Plowden, the official historian of the Irish hierarchy of
that period, states1 that : —
The Roman Catholics being sensible of the calumnies
attempted to be affixed to them by their enemies, and wishing to
screen themselves against the mischievous imprudence of some
individuals, whose close connections with the political societies of
the North, most of them condemned, agreed upon the expedient
of giving the most solemn publicity to their real sentiments, by
circulating through the nation the following admonition, com-
posed and signed by Doctors Troy, O'Reilly, Bray, Bellew, and
Cruise, five bishops then in Dublin : —
' DUBLIN, January 25, 1793.
' DEAR CHRISTIANS, — It has been our constant practice, as it
is our indispensable duty, to exhort you to manifest, on all
1 Hist. Review, vol. ii., p. 398.
240 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
occasions, that unshaken loyalty to his Majesty, and obedience
to the laws, which the principles of our holy religion inspire and
command. This loyalty and obedience have ever peculiarly
distinguished the Eoman Catholics of Ireland. We do not
conceive a doubt of their being actuated at present by the same
sentiments ; but think it necessary to observe that a most lively
gratitude to our beloved Sovereign should render their loyalty
and love of order, if possible, more conspicuous. Our gracious
King, the common father of all his people, has, with peculiar
energy, recommended his faithful Roman Catholic subjects of this
kingdom to the wisdom and liberality of our enlightened Parliament
How can we, dear Christians, express our heartfelt acknowledg-
ments for this signal and unprecedented instance of royal
benevolence and condescension? Words are insufficient; but
your continued and peaceable conduct will more effectually
proclaim them, and in a manner, if not more satisfactory to
his Majesty and his Parliament. Avoid then, we conjure you,
dearest brethren, every appearance of riot; attend to your indus-
trious pursuits for the support and comfort of your families;
fly from idle assemblies ; abstain from the intemperate use of
spiritous and intoxicating liquors ; practise the duties of our
holy religion. This conduct, so pleasing to heaven, will also
prove the most powerful recommendation of your present claims
to our amiable Sovereign, to both Houses of Parliament, to the
magistrates, and to all well-meaning fellow-subjects of every
description. None but the evil-minded can rejoice in your being
concerned in any disturbance.
' We cannot but declare our utmost and conscientious detes-
tation and abhorrence of the enormities lately committed by
seditious and misguided wretches of every denomination, in some
counties of this kingdom ; they are enemies to God and man, the
outcasts of society, and a disgrace to Christianity. We consider
the Roman Catholics amongst them unworthy the appellation,
whether acting from themselves, or seduced to outrage by arts of
designing enemies to us, and to national prosperity intimately
connected with our emancipation.
' Offer your prayers, dearest brethren, to the Father of Mercy,
that He may inspire these deluded people with sentiments
becoming Christians and good subjects ; supplicate the Almighty
Ruler and Disposer of empires, to direct his Majesty's councils,
and forward his benevolent intentions to unite all his Irish
subjects in bonds of common interest, and common endeavours
for the preservation of peace and good order, and for every
purpose tending to increase and secure national prosperity.'
A Declaration had been already published, signed by
Dr. Troy and his clergy, and afterwards by the Catholic
clergy and laity of Ireland, disavowing, as Catholic teaching,
ARCHBISHOP TROY 241
any such maxims, as that princes excommunicated by any
authority could be lawfully deposed or murdered ; that the
Pope could absolve subjects from their oath of allegiance ;
that any heretic could be lawfully injured or murdered ; or
that faith ought not to be kept with heretics.
The Catholic Convention (Back-lane Parliament), having
assembled in Tailor's Hall, Back-lane, Dublin, a petition
to the King, containing a representation of the Catholic
grievances, was signed by Dr. Troy and Dr. Moylan on
behalf of themselves and the other Roman Catholic prelates
and clergy of Ireland, and by several delegates for the
different districts, which they respectively represented. On
the 2nd January, 17^3, the delegates attended the levee at
St. James's, were introduced to his Majesty by Mr. Dundas,
Secretary for the Home Department, and had the honour of
presenting their petition to the King, who was pleased most
graciously to receive it.
The result was a message from the King at the opening
of Parliament, recommending that ' the situation of his
Catholic subjects should engage their serious attention.'
February 4, 1793, Mr. Secretary Hobart presented to the
House a petition signed by John Thomas Troy, Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin; Archbishops O'Keilly, Bray;
Dr. Bellew of Killala ; and some representatives of the
Catholic laity, setting forth
That the petitioners are subject to a variety of severe and
oppressive laws, the further continuance of which they humbly
conceived their dutiful demeanour and unremitting loyalty for
more than one hundred years, must evince to be equally impolitic
and unnecessary.
The petition was read, and ordered to lie on the
table. Mr. Hobart then introduced his new Emancipation
Bill.
1. It restored to Catholics the right of voting at elections
for Protestant Members of Parliament, and to vote for
magistrates in cities and towns.
2. They were allowed to serve on grand juries and to
become justices of the peace.
3. The 29th of George II. was repealed so far as allowing
VOL. III. Q
242 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a challenge against any Catholic on a petty jury, in causes
where a Protestant and a Catholic were parties.
4. Catholics could enter Trinity College, Dublin, and
obtain degrees.
5. They might open colleges to be affiliated to Trinity
College, provided they were not exclusively for the education
of Catholics, and the masters, fellows, &c., not exclusively
Catholic.
6. Catholics were rendered capable of being elected
professors of medicine upon the foundation of Sir Patrick
Dun.
7. Catholics seized of a freehold of one hundred pounds
a-year, or possessed of a personal estate of one thousand
pounds ; and Catholics, on taking the Oath of Allegiance,
seized of a freehold of ten pounds a-year, or possessed of a
personal estate of three hundred, were allowed to keep and
use arms and ammunition.
8. Many civil and military offices were open to Catholics
on taking the oath — a very insulting one.
9. Finally, it proposed that no Catholic shall be liable or
subject to any penalty for not attending Divine Service on
the Sabbath Day in his or her parish church.
The motion for the introduction of the Bill was seconded
by Sir Hercules Langrishe.
On the 9th April the Bill was passed into law, principally
on account of the recommendation of the King and the
support of the Government.
It has been well observed that during these negotiations
the Catholics were led by men of capacity. They availed
themselves of every circumstance, and every ally — the
Opposition, the Court, the French success — without binding
themselves so far to any as to exclude the assistance of the
other. The French success, by terrifying their enemies,
served the Catholic cause very much, but the Catholics had
too much sense to express their approbation of French
principles. Their prudent conduct made the king their
patron, and his lieutenant's secretary moved their Bill. The
Opposition struggled to get for them everything ; but if not
everything, as much as they could, and not to break with
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 243
Government because they could not get all at once. The
Catholics very prudently, therefore, did not in terms ask for
everything, whilst they left everything open for themselves
to ask, and Parliament to give.1
N. MURPHY.
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS2
I INTEND to treat this subject mainly in the way of reply
to the Eev. Fr. Fuzier, who, in a paper presented to the
last Congress, professed to refute my teaching in regard to
certain judgments which I held should be called at once
synthetic and a priori. The paper to which I allude is found
in the third section of the general report of that last
Congress, and its pretended refutation of my teaching
commences there at page 25 under the italicized heading:
' Refutation des jugements synthetiques a priori du Eev.
O'MaJiony.'
At the beginning of his remarks Fr. Fuzier took care to
remind his hearers that a detailed explanation of the doctrine
he proposed to refute was published in the first volume of the
general report of the Congress of 1888. Let me add that the
explanation there given occupies ten pages of forty- five lines
to the page, that is to say, extends to four hundred and fifty
lines of the volume. Now, of these four hundred and fifty
lines, the Eev. Father presents, as it were, a precis extending
to sixteen lines, in the form of three non-consecutive extracts.
The first of these gives examples of the kind of judgments I
considered ought to be called at once a priori and synthetic,
naturally understanding these terms according to the sense
in which I distinctly stated I wished to understand them,
and in which alone, I explained at some length, I considered
that in this question they should be understood.
1 Plowden, Hut. Review, vol. ii., p. 432.
2 A Paper read in French by the Author at the late Scientific Congress of
Catholics held at Fribourg.
244 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The examples Fr. Fuzier quoted are not all those I
presented in the course of my paper as illustrating the
general truth of my teaching. But they are sufficient to
give a true account of it, and more than sufficient to effect
its refutation, if that teaching can be refuted. Fr. Fuzier
rightly notices that they form a ' series. ' He even remarks
that I had given certain rather curious series of such judg-
ments— ' des series assez curieuses.' I hold there is only
one series of the kind, and that quite other than curious, as
it offers only judgments which are the first natural dictates
of common sense; given through each thinking mind's
immediate experience, and, for that reason synthetic ; given
by the pure act of thought, reason's own act, and for that
alone to be called a priori.
Taking them as they are found in the first extract my
critic has chosen, in the descending order of the perfections
they express, these judgments are : — (1) ' There exists an
intelligent being,' or, ' a being actually living is intelligent ; '
then, what that supposes; (2) 'There is a being that lives,'
in other words, ' something actually acting is living ; ' then
(3) ' Something existing acts,' or, ' there is an agent ; ' and
finally, what all that presupposes (4) ' Something exists.'
Here, in reality, we have but four judgments with certain
changes of terms, and still further changes of the kind may
be introduced without adding to the truths these judgments
express. For instance, the proposition, ' there is an agent,'
is really no other than the statement that there is a cause ;
taking the word ' cause ' in its primary sense as signifying
a subject apt to cause or which may cause, whether as a
matter of fact it has caused or is actually causing or not.
In this way several other propositions of which there is
frequent question in philosophy, may be referred to one or
other of these four.
Taking them as I did immediately after Fr. Fuzier's first
extract, in the ascending order of their perfections, they
are:— (1) a being (something) exists, (2) something existing
acts, (3) something acting lives, (4) something living thinks.
There [I said] you have judgments just as true, and, as true
judgments, just as synthetic in form as the contingent ones I drew
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 245
from the fact of our existence ; nevertheless just as necessary in
their order, and as evidently so in their way, as any analytics
you like. I say, in tJieir order, which is the real, as that of
analytics is the ideal ; and in ilieir way, that is, seen to be
essential through reason's synthesis of subject and attribute,
just as the analytics are seen to be through thought's analysis of
the subject.
So much for the judgments to be considered, and my
teaching in regard to them. Now for my critic's promised
refutation.
I.
I first note that he does not deny those judgments to be a
priori. His contention is that they are not synthetic. Of
all the reasons I brought forward in favour of my position
in regard to them he takes notice only of those given in a
passage where, accentuating the synthesis they present, I
remarked, 'first, they are evidently synthetic, since the
idea of agent, for instance, does not give that of life nor any
reason for attributing life to it ; which should also be said
of the notion of life in regard to that of thought. And
this is precisely why we have no right to say every thing
that is acting is living or every living being thinks ' — though,
I would here add, we have a right to say ' every thinking
being lives,' and ' every living being acts ' ; the latter two
judgments being as clearly analytic as the two previous
ones are synthetic.1 On this point I shall have something
more explicit to say. For the present let it suffice to note
that admitting, at least not denying, my judgments to be
a priori, Fr. Fuzier only undertakes to refute the assertion
that they are synthetic.
Apparently in view of his intended refutation, and as if
making quite a new observation, at any rate, as it were
laying down his refuting principle, he remarks : ' These
1 Thus even it may be said, because the ideal judgment 'a thinking being
lives ' is analytic or explicative, having a predicate that represents but part of
the subject, the converse, viz., ' a living being thinks ' being a real judgment
is synthetic or ampliative, having a predicate that superadds to the subject : for,
in reason's order, thought adds perfection to life, as life does to act, and
act to actuality, and actuality itself to reality or existence to real essence in
contingent being.
246 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
judgments belong to the real and existing order.' Exactly,
that is what I observed, as has been noticed, immediately
after his first extract. More, it is a remark I frequently
reverted to in the course of my paper. I even insisted on it
at the beginning when determining the exact sense of the
problem I desired to propose to the Congress :—
Are there [I said] judgments so formed that in the simple
consideration of the subject we see no reason for attributing to it
the predicate (and which should consequently be called synthetic),
yet which have the character of judgments such that their truth
presented to the spirit as actual is by it immediately recognised
as essential (thus to be termed a priori) as uncaused truths,
independent of any hypothesis, evidently primordial in the real
order and, as such, in that order absolutely necessary ?
Why did I insist so much on this point ? Because it
touched the very root of the question I proposed to discuss.
I had asserted, and it was known that in several articles on
this and cognate subjects, published in France and elsewhere,
I had maintained, that in the ideal order all a priori judg-
ments are analytical, and are so for the simple reason that,
in this order, all judgments are analytical. If, consequently,
I considered any a priori ones not analytical, clsarly in my
opinion they should be of the other order, all of the real.
There, then, I held and hold— among judgments of the real
order of knowledge — there, and there only lies the root of
the question as to whether or not there are those which
should be called at once ' Synthetical ' and a priori.
It could not accordingly be here a question of abstract
judgments such as ' a straight line is the shortest way from
one point to another,' or any such Kantian formulas. No
more could it be a question of general principles or axioms
such as ' all that commences or changes does so by the act
of another,' or ' every phenomenon is effected,' or ' every
effect requires an effector or cause,' or any such axiomatic
utterances so often discussed in our Congress under the
general title of ' Principle of Causality.' With their
universal subjects and admittedly abstract character, these
judgments being all of the ideal order, ought, I have held,
all be called analytic. In definitive then, my questior was
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 247
this — granted that there are not any of the universal,
abstract, or ideal kind, are there synthetic a priori judgments
among those of the real order ?
I maintained there are, that there is a series of them, a
series which elsewhere I called that of ' the vertebrae of real
science, the backbone of philosophy, the objective basis of all
our knowledge.' ' Hence,' I said in concluding the second
section of my paper, ' these judgments are in the real order
the dialectic principles on which rests Ihought's self-evidence
for its supreme truth, for the existence of the Essential, of
the Real-Ideal, whereunto as to its term every spirit aspires.'
It is therefore evident that in giving examples of judgments
of that sort, my fundamental supposition, the very founda-
tion of my position, ought to have been that they are — as
Father Fuzier observed those I gave are— all of the real
order.
n.
Up to this, it will be seen, my critic and I are in perfect
agreement. There is not on his side a shadow of 'refutation.'
Here it ought begin to show. Here a beginning at least of the
promised refutation ought to appear, and that by the appli-
cation of his supposed principle of refutation to the four
judgments in question. Well, before going farther, I remark
that, without word of comment, he passes by the first two,
which in my eyes are rather more noteworthy than the
others as being more manifestly a priori. Perhaps he left
them aside for being the first, and as such, the least strikingly
synthetic. Be that as it may, aside he has left them. He
makes no mention of them in the course of his supposed
' refutation.' He apparently only thinks of trying to refute
the two last. But, how does he do so ? I here quote his own
words, for here, if anywhere, ought to show the point of his
argument : —
These judgments [he premises] are of the real and existing
order, and, therefore, the concept of the subject is not the generic
concept of agent or living, but the specific concept of such and
such a category of agents and living beings (d' agents etde vivants),
that is to say, of the agents and living beings (des agents et des
vivants) of which it was question in the attribute.
248 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Having thus laid down and explained his refuting
principle, he proceeds : —
Consequently, in these judgments ' some agents live,' ' some
living beings think ' (cfes agents vivcnt, des vivants pensent) the
subject and the attribute are identical, their comprehension is
the same, enveloped in one, developed in the other ; and if, by
analysis, you develop the comprehension of the two subjects,
you have the following tautologies : —
Certain agents, these that live, are living ;
Certain living beings, those that think, are thinking.
These j udgments are therefore analytic : you find in the subject
such as it is taken in the proposition, the reason to attribute to it
the predicate.
These judgments ! What judgments ? Not mine : my
judgments are — ' an agent lives, a living being thinks ' (un
agent vit, un vivant pense). Thus they appear in each of
the three passages my critic has chosen. Neither there nor
anywhere else in my paper is it question of ' certain agents,'
or ' some agents,' ' certain living beings,' or ' some living
beings ' (ou des agents ou des vivants).
Let me not be told that there is here indeed a difference
from the point of view of grammar, or at most of logic, but not
of philosophy, at least not in regard to the present question.
There is here the greatest possible difference of the kind, and
especially from the latter point of view. It is just as if I had
said : — ' Undeniably a being actually living is infinitely
powerful,' and then someone should say to me : — ' It is not
undeniable that some beings actually living are infinitely
powerful. I deny your statement. I undertake to refute it
by a very simple argument.' What could I reply but —
' Please don't trouble yourself with drawing up an argument
on the subject, simple or complex. Simply note that the
proposition you mean to refute, any way you take it, is not
mine.'
in.
Of course, there is here no question of good or bad faith,
of any kind of intended injustice on the part of Father Fuzier.
The good Father had already given my judgments quite
correctly, and that twice in my own words; a fact which
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 249
renders this transformation on his part so passing strange •
all the more that, immediately after, in view of a fresh
remark, he cites a third passage from my paper, in which
they are again given as — ' an agent lives, a living being
thinks.' The passage is : —
It is enough for us to become aware of the fact that an agent
lives, or a living being thinks, to know that not only has there been
always an agent living, and always a living being thinking, but
what says much more, that the fact of life in general as well as
that of thought is uncaused. It is enough, I say, for reason to
cognize the truth thus presented to it as actual in order to
recognise it as essential and as such a priori.
' There,' my critic kindly remarks, ' is a very high
conception, but it too is furnished by analysis and not by
synthesis.' He apparently there confounds the question as to
the existence of a priori ' conceptions,' which I reject, with
that as to the existence of apriori 'judgments,' which, in the
sense explained, I maintain, and of which alone it is here
question. Throughout, indeed, he appears to me somewhat to
confound conception and judgment, the direct act of forming
concepts with the reflex act of comparing them, and there-
upon deciding how, in reason's way, one is to be affirmed of
the other, or denied. Even when speaking of ' judgments
relating to the real and existing order,' he seems to me
not to think of real as distinct fromjdeal or verbal attribu-
tion. What in English is called the ' existential import of
propositions ' does not, apparently, occur to him at all.
This possibly is how these subjects of real judgments got
transformed, in his mind, into logical ' categories ' calling for
some rational analysis. Be the explanation what it may, the
transformation of terms I have noticed once effected, his
subsequent criticism proceeds on the assumption that he is
dealing with judgments having equivalently plural nouns for
subjects — des agents et des vivants, telle ou telle categorie
d' agents et de vivants.
Now, these and all such judgments are radically different
from mine, particularly so in regard to the present question,
for the simple reason that they are obviously not a priori —
250 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
'as objective judgments or by reason of the truth expressed.'1
Each of Fr. Fuzier's propositions may be taken as represent-
ing an undeniable truth — one, moreover, that for us now
may be called a ' first truth ' (une verite premiere) , like
motion or sensation, but not a primordial truth (pas une
verite primordiale), not an essential, not a necessary first
truth ; hence not a priori in the sense at present commonly
received, and which I distinctly explained I meant to adopt
in the present discussion.2 True, for my propositions, as
for those which were put in their place, ' the comprehension
of the subject is the same,' but the extension of the subject
is different ; and that here makes all the difference in the
world. It makes the difference between judgments show-
ing truths given to each rational agent by the natural act of
reason, so naturally recognised as primordial, as a priori
truths, and judgments of which this can in no sense be said.
For instance, take the last one of mine Father Fuzier
quoted — ' A living being thinks ; ' that is manifestly given
to each thinking soul by the very act ol thought ; while the
one substituted for it — ' some living beings think ' — is as
manifestly not so given. Again, supposing thought's neces-
sity, which must be supposed if the proposition be a priori,
it is necessary that there should be one thinking, absolutely
speaking, there need be no more ; ' some beings think ' is
a contingent, therefore an a posteriori truth, since clearly
one suffices for thought, as one does for life, for act or for
actuality. Precisely on that account, real reason's essential
first truths, such as mine, all radically differ from the
contingent first truths of sense, such as motion, suffering
or simple feeling, and all such data whereof modern scientists
1 ' En tant que jugements objectifs ou a raison de la verit6 exprimee,
doivent etre dits a priori : ' words taken from my first paper, explaining the
precise point of the question to be discussed.
2 See my original paper. Compare Dr. Ward, 'Philosophical Axioms,'
Dublin Review, 1869. By Axioms,' he says, ' We mean, necessary first truths.'
That he then takes as a sufficiently practical definition for ' a priori judgments.'
So I have taken it. I would, however, observe that by ' Axioms ' are commonly
understood necessary and universal first truths. Now my question was in
effect : — Are there not truths as thoroughly first, and as truly necessary as any
yet which are not universal, not being of the ideal or abstract order, and
precisely for that reason, not analytic ?
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 251
would make the only real principles of science. These are,
indeed, for us here now abiding truths, like those of my
critic's propositions, but, as also like them, importing
plurality of beings, are not essential, not primordial, not
a priori. Thus, ontologically as well as logically, philo-
sophically, in the full sense of the word, his formulas are
different from mine, and are so in regard to the present
question, to the extent of having nothing whatever to do
with it.
CONCLUSION
Here, then, briefly, is my answer to Fr. Fuzier's Befu-
tation des jugements synthetiques a priori duRev. O'Mahony.
Speaking only of the four he quoted, I say that, in the way
of criticism, he did not touch the two first, and touched the
two last only to put two others essentially different in their
place. Not alone, therefore, has he not effected his promised
' Refutation,' he has not yet tried to effect it. Now, let him
try. To any one of the series let him make an objection
serving to show it is not synthetic, or, being so, is not
a priori. I shall reply to his objection with pleasure, all
the more for feeling sure that any objection of the kind,
however answered, cannot fail, if not in my sense to solve,
at least to make clearer and clearer what I hold to be the
problem that really lies at the root of this question.
Touching his criticism of the judgments which he put
in place of mine, namely, that, as appertaining to the real
and existing order, they are tautologies, and, therefore,
analytic, let him look to it. But, I ask, can the same be
said of mine? Can it be said that in each of them the
predicate only repeats the subject ' as it is taken in the
proposition,' and that this subject means but the person
thus actually judging ? So that these admittedly first facts
of philosophy : ' Something exists ' (aliquid existit), ' some-
thing existing acts/ and the like, rightly worded out, come
to mere tautological platitudes, such as : ' Something exist-
ing (myself here now) exists ; ' Something acting (myself at
present) acts,' and so on ! Is that a true criticism of the
natural judgments of man's reason as to the significance, the
252 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
necessity and the import, of existence, action, life, and
thought ? Certainly not. Being self-affirmatives of reflec-
tion, real principles of reason, the subject in each of them
is indefinite as the attribute is essential and the attribution
unconditioned. The affirmation accordingly thereby under-
stood to be made is that of the necessity of existence,
or actuality, action, life, and thought in general.
Assuredly what consciousness primarily testifies to each
one is that he is here now thinking, with all that for him the
fact imports. No man thereupon dreams of judging that
thought's truth, any more than that of life, or act, or
actuality, depends on its being true of him as subject.
Each one thinking knows that in a few hours he shall have
ceased to think. Meanwhile, sitting on reason's throne, in
the universal court of reflection, in the light of the law
and in virtue of the powers of reason's ,act, now his, he
self-affirms that there is always someone thinking, that,
unlike motion or sensation) of absolute necessity there must
be thought, as there must be truth, and in act there must
be being.
True, in the formulas which express these principles,
the copula is non-modal, simply ' is ; ' for exists, acts, lives,
thinks, logically mean is existing, acting, living, thinking.
But it should always be remembered that as copula of
reason's self -judgments in reflection's order, synthetic or
analytic, real or ideal, the verb-substantive is taken, not
in the active only, but in pure act's voice, therefore in
parfection's unconditional mood and eternity's absolutely
present tense. In the course of my first paper I explained
how such self-affirmation is logically made. I showed how
the truths these judgments represent, naturally cognised by
experience as actual, are, at the same time, as naturally
recognised by reason as essential, so seen to be ' absolutely
primordial verities : ' hence are self-affirmed, not in virtue
of any Kantian or Kaiserine ' imperative dictate ' ab extra,
perforce blindly binding, but in harmony with the law of
reason's own inmost light and life.
For the fundamental position of my thesis it would be
quite enough to maintain that any judgment of the series,
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 253
were it only the first, has both the characteristics thus
claimed for it. Still I maintain they all have them.
They are all synthetic, as given by the immediate act of
experience ; they are a priori, for the act that gives them is
reason's own.1
T. J. O'MAHONY.
1 Part of the foregoing1 had to be omitted in the reading, so as to keep
within, the prescribed twenty minutes. When the main point of the conclusion
had been read, the President asked if Father Fuzier was present. As he was
rot, discussion commenced on the subject in the usual way. Upon this, I note,
no one took up Father Fuzier's contention, that the judgments in question are
not synthetic ; the discussion was wholly confined to the sort of a priori
character I claimed for them, referring to it in a thoroughly appreciative
though rather brief, report of the proceedings of the Philosophical Section of
the Congress (Ileviie Neo-Scolasfique, Nov. 1897), Father de Munnynck (of
Louvain) writes : ' Mgr. Ki*s drew attention to the properties which Kant
assigns to his synthetic a priori propositions. He begged Dr. O'Mahony to
observe that not one of his examples is a universal proposition, and that,
consequently, they should not be called synthetic a priori in the sense of Kant.'
I beg to add I replied, in effect, that I did not say they should, and in my
original paper had specially emphasized the fact that they should not, as not
being universal. The remark of the eminent Professor of the Univsrsity of
Buda-Pesth was thus in reality tantamount to observing that my thesis was
what it professed to be, and, being that, was quite other than Kant's, its
assertions and the examples given in proof thereof being wholly other than
his. What my thesis in this way formally asserted was, that there are a priori
judgments, in the sense ^commonly received since Kant's time, propositions
giving 'absolutely primordial verities ' or 'necessary first truths' (Dr. Ward),
yet which, unlike those of Kant, are not universal, not being, like his, of the
ideal or abstract order of attribution, but real judgments, statements of
immediate experience, and, therefore, truly synthetic ; while all Kant's
examples, and all similar abstract, universal principles, I held to be analytic in
one or other of the three ways in which I had previously shown a judgment
might be said to be so. Father de Alunnynck concludes his notice with the
remark that the point at issue is ' by no means a question of words, but one
which involves very grave psychological and ontological problems.' All the
more reason ought there be for laying bare the root of it, and trying, at least, to
show where its last fibres enter the ground of self-evident truth.
[ 254 ]
IRotes anfc (Queries
THEOLOGY
PROTESTANT WITNESSES AT THE MARRIAGE OF CATHOLICS
CAN CATHOLICS VALIDLY MARRIED AT A REGISTRY
OFFICE, OR IN A PBOTESTANT CHURCH, AFTERWARDS
RECEIVE THE NUPTIAL BLESSING?
EEV. DEAR SIR, — 1. Can a priest on the English mission
permit Protestant witnesses to a marriage in his church on his
own responsibility? They are valid witnesses I know— are they
licit ?
2. Can he (a priest on the English mission) give the nuptial
blessing — privately of course — to a Catholic couple who were
married in the Begistrar's office, or in a Protestant Church?
Yours, &c.,
SACERDOS.
1. A priest should not, on his own responsibility, admit
non-Catholics to assist as witnesses at a marriage. An
answer to this effect was given by the Holy Office,
19th August, 1891:—
Se sia lecito assumere gli eterodossi a testirnoni nel matrirnonio
dei Catholici.
And the reply was : —
Non esse adhibendos ; posse tamen ab Ordinario tolerari ex
gravi causa, dummodo non adsit scandalum.
According to this reply, therefore, non-Catholics should
not per se be admitted as formal witnesses of a marriage.
They may, however, for a grave cause be admitted where
no scandal will be given. The bishop — not the officiating
priest — is the judge of the sufficiency of the reason for their
admission. If there be anywhere a recognised custom of
admitting non-Catholic witnesses, we may assume that the
bishop regards their admission in that place justified by the
circumstances, and we require no express authorisation to
follow the usual practice.
NOTES AND QUERIES 255
2. In England — for it is to that country only our
correspondent refers — even Catholics may, of course, marry
validly before a registrar or a Protestant clergyman. We
assume that they are not peregrini contracting in fraudem
legis. But such a marriage is gravely sinful ; and if the
parties contract before a heretical minister (as such), and
with a heretical rite, they incur excommunication, specially
reserved to the Holy See in the Bull Apostolicae Sedis.1
Manifestly a priest's first duty, in regard to such persons,
is to bring them to repent of their sin, make reparation for
the scandal given, and seek absolution from censure, if a
censure has been incurred. In some dioceses special legisla-
tion defines the manner in which public reparation of the
scandal given is to be made. Having succeeded in getting
the parties to repent of and repair the evil done, our
correspondent asks whether he should give them the nuptial
blessing.
By the nuptial blessing, we may understand either the
simple blessing of . the Ritual or the solemn blessing of the
Missal. Many theologians hold (and rightly, we think) that
per se there is, in ordinary cases, an obligation sub veniali,
to seek the solemn blessing.2 All must admit that there isper
se a obligation to give the solemn blessing to those who ask
it. Others think it is not strictly obligatory to receive the
solemn nuptial blessing, though the Church strongly exhorts
the faithful to receive it/ But, outside a case of necessity,
Catholics contracting marriage are bound, under pain of
mortal sin, to receive the blessing of the Ritual, and that
even where the law of Trent has not been promulgated.4
Nor does this obligation ceasB when a marriage has been,
lawfully (in case of necessity) or unlawfully, though validly,
contracted without the presence and blessing of a priest.
Clarum est [says Gasparri] inito valide mafcrimonio praecep-
tum grave manere sponsos petendi hanc Eitualis benedictionem
1Conf. Collect. Prop. Fid,, n. 2,202; Bucceroni, Comment. DC Comfit. Apos.
Sedis, p. 7, n. 9.
a Sanchez, St. Alphonsus, Becker, De Spans, et Mat., p. 358 ; Gasparri, De
Mat., n. 1,021 ; Rosset, De Sac. Mat., v., n. 2,868.
•LehmkoM, ii., n. 693; Feije, n. 554.
*Conf. Lehmkuhl, ii., n. 693.
256 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
. . . Haec vera sunt non modo de matrimonio defectu parochi
coram testibus contracto, sed in genere de matrimoniis validis
clandestinis*
Catholics, then, who have contracted validly, in the
office of a registrar or in a Protestant church, are still bound
to present themselves to receive, and the priest should
impart — if the parties have satisfied the requirements above
mentioned — the simple blessing of the Kitual. The matri-
monial consent is not to be renewed, for the marriage is
already, we assume, certainly valid. The priest does not recite
the words of the Bitual : Ego vos conjungo, &c. ; but every-
thing else is done as the Kitual prescribes in the ordinary
marriage rite. So much for the blessing of the Kitual.
May the solemn blessing of the Missal be also given to
such persons at a nuptial Mass ? Even some of those who
maintain that there is an obligation to receive the solemn
blessing, in the first instance, concede that there is not an
obligation to supply it afterwards, when it has been omitted
at a marriage validly contracted. It is, however, in ordinary
cases, certainly lawful to supply this blessing ; nor is there
anything to prevent the parties in the question proposed
from getting it. Local legislation should, of course, be kept
in view ; and, moreover, ic may easily, in certain circum-
stances, give offence and scandal if such persons were to
get the solemn blessing, in a place where the blessing is not
usually given to more faithful and deserving members of the
Church.
We do not quite understand why these blessings, if given
at all, should be given « privately.' The public reception of
the blessing of the Ritual would be one of the best, not to
say the most necessary, means of repairing the scandal.
The solemn blessing cannot, unless by special dispensation,
be separated from the nuptial Mass, and, therefore, the
question of imparting it privately does not seem to arise.
D. MANNIX.
1 Gasparri, DcJfal.,ii., n. 1,009.
NOTES AND QUERIES 257
LITURGY
QUESTIONS ON THE SCAPULARS
EEV. DEAR SIR, — Would you kindly answer the following : — •
1. Is there any decree ordering that, when several scapulars
are worn on one pair of strings, each scapular should be joined to
the strings ?
2. Does the decree demand that there should be immediate
contact between each of the scapulars and the strings ; or is it
enough, if the strings actually touch only one of the scapulars,
provided that the other scapulars are joined mediately to the
strings, by being sown to them, through the scapular to which
they are immediately attached ?
3. Supposing that the decrees mentioned in 1 and 2, exists,
is a scapular invalid if it be not made in accordance with
them?
SACEBDOS.
No decree, such as that to which our correspondent refers
in his first question, exists, as far as we have been able to dis-
cover. On the contrary, there exists a decree which, implicitly
at least, declares that all the scapulars need not be attached
to the same cord or strings.1 All that is essential is that the
scapulars should consist of a square or oblong piece cf woollen
material of the requisite colour ; that they should be joined
together at the edge to which the strings are attached ; and
that one set of the scapulars thus united should hang on the
breast, the other on the back of the wearer. The colour of
the strings is immaterial, unless in the case of the red
scapular. For the red scapular has received the approbation
of the Holy See, and has been indulgenced only on condition
that it be made according to the pattern shown to Sister
Apolline Audriveau by our Lord Himself. And in this
pattern the red scapulars were united by strings of red
woollen material resembling that of which the scapulars
themselves were composed. Hence, when a number of
1 Deer. Auth., 408, 1°.
VOL. in. a
258 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
scapulars, including the red scapular, are attached to the
same strings, these strings should be red in colour and of
woollen material. It is not certain that, in the case just
mentioned, the red strings should be immediately attached
to the red scapular. Probably if the several scapulars were
suspended as a whole to the red strings, the condition
regarding the red scapulars would be sufficiently fulfilled
even though the red strings were not in direct and immediate
contact with the cloth of the scapulars. But, for precaution's
sake, we would advise that the red strings should be attached
directly to the red scapulars, and that the other scapulars
be attached by a few stitches along the edge to the red
scapular.
Our correspondent's second and third questions are based
on the hypothesis that the decrees referred to in his first
question in reality exists. As no such decree does exist it is
unnecessary to reply to these questions.
QUESTIONS REGARDING PROCESSION AND BENEDICTION
BEV. DEAR SIR, — Will you kindly answer the following
queries in next issue of I. E. EECORD and oblige.
INQUIRER.
1. May banners of the B.V.M. or of the saints be carried in
procession of the Blessed Sacrament ?
2. May prayers in the ' vernacular,' other than those pre-
scribed for October devotions, be recited by the minister while
the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for Benediction ?
3. May the choir sing hymns in the ' vernacular ' while the
Blessed Sacrament is exposed.
1. Nothing could be more appropriate, nothing more
in accordance with the spirit of the Liturgy, or the custom
of the Church, than to carry in processions of the Blessed
Sacrament, banners bearing pictures of our Blessed Lady, or
representations of the mysteries of her life, or of the power
of her intercession, or of the depth of her love for the souls
redeemed by the Blood of her Divine Son. The same is
proportionately true of banners bearing pictures real or
NOTES AND QUERIES
allegorical of the saints. Such banners, like the vestments
of the clergy, the canopy, the candles and lanterns, add to
the solemnity, as well as to the impressiveness of the proces-
sion, and contribute to the external majesty and pomp,
which should, as far as possible, surround our Sacramental
Lord when borne in public procession.
It should hardly be necessary to prove the admissibility
of these banners in processions of the Blessed Sacrament.
The custom of bearing them in procession is, we think,
almost, if not altogether, universal. To convince sceptics,
however, we may just mention that the various bodies who
take part in processions of the Blessed Sacrament, whether
they be school children or members of confraternities, are
to have their own peculiar banner borne at their head.
Speaking of the order of the procession of the Blessed
Sacrament on Corpus Christi, Wapelhorst says :—
(b) Pueri et puellae scholam catechismumve frequentantes
praelato eorum vexillo.
(GJ Confraternitates laicorum cum siiis insignibus.
2. This question, too, is to be answered in the affirmative.
Prayers approved of for public worship may be publicly
recited in the vernacular while the Blessed Sacrament is
exposed. The only condition, in order that prayers in the
vernacular may be recited in presence of the Blessed
Sacrament exposed, is, that they should have the approval
of the Ordinary of the diocese. Surely our correspondent
would not impugn the lawfulness of reciting, in presence
of the Blessed Sacrament exposed, the prayers in honour
of the Sacred Heart, which are usually recited during
the time the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for Benediction
on the first Fridays, or first Sundays of the month ?
Neither, we hope, would he impugn the custom of reciting
during the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament the Divine
Praises, to the recitation of which, in these circumstances,
the Congregation of Indulgences has recently attached an
additional indulgence.
3. The answer to the third question is the same as that
given to the second. Vernacular hymns, approved of by
260 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the Ordinary of the diocese, may be sung during the time
the Blessed Sacrament is exposed previous to or after
Benediction. This point has been explicitly denned by
the Congregation of Kites in several decrees, two of which
we here quote from The Ceremonies of Ecclesiastical
Functions : — 1
Quaes. An liceat adhibere publicain quarundam precum
recitationem vulgar! sermone conscriptarum coram SSmo.
Sacramento exposito ?
Resp. Affirmative dummodo agatur de precibus approbatis.
Qtiaes. Utrum liceat generaliter ut chorus musicorum (id est
eantores) coram SSmo Sacramento solemniter exposito, decantet
hymnos in lingua vernacula ?
Resp. Posse, dummodo non agitur de hymnis Te Deum et aliis
quibuscunque liturgicis precibus, quae nonnisi latina lingua
decantari debent.
MAY A MOVABLE THRONE BE USED FOR EXPOSITION OF
THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT P
WHY DID THE QOTHIC CHASUBLE FALL INTO DISUSE?
WHY WAS THE PRESENT EPISCOPAL MITRE SUBSTITUTED
FOR THE SMALLER ONE OF EARLIER TIMES?
EEV. DEAR SIR, — May I trouble you for an early reply to
the following questions ?
LAICUS.
1. When the Blessed Sacrament is solemnly exposed in the
monstrance, may the monstrance be elevated on a movable
throne placed on the altar?
2. When and why did the old chasuble, known as the
Gothic chasuble, fall into disuse ?
3. Why is the present large and unshapely mitre used instead
of the small and beautiful one of pre-Keformation days ?
1. When the Blessed Sacrament is solemnly exposed in
the monstrance, the monstrance should, generally speaking,
be placed on a throne of some kind, more or less elevated
above the table of the altar. This is prescribed for the
Page 156,
NOTES AND QUERIES 261
solemn exposition of the forty hours, in the Instructio
Clementina, and by nearly all writers for any solemn exposi-
tion whatsoever. But nowhere, so far as we are aware, is
it decided that the throne should be a permanent structure,
such as those that we frequently find erected over the
tabernacle on the high altar in modern churches. Indeed
historically speaking, the movable throne was introduced
long prior to the permanent one ; and, moreover, it is of the
movable throne that most writers, including Clement XI.
in his famous Instruction, speak. The fixed throne form-
ing part of the structure of the altar is comparatively
modern, and was, doubtless, introduced as much for its
ornamental effect as for its convenience. Our correspondent
need not, therefore, have any doubt about the lawfulness of
a custom which dates back to the time when solemn
exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was first introduced,
and which is still widely prevalent.
2. Writers are not agreed as to the time at which the
ancient Gothic chasuble dwindled from its ample portions
into its present handier if less picturesque form. Some say
the change was made as early as the tenth century,
while others maintain that the change took place in the
sixteenth century. Probably we may reconcile these
extreme opinions by saying, that the change began at
the earlier date, but was not completed until the later-
This much seems to be certain, the change had taken place
by the sixteenth century, and so great was the change it
seems also to be certain, that it must have been brought
about very slowly and gradually.
The reason for the change is manifest. The Gothic
chasuble covered the whole body, including the arms, in its
ample folds. Hence, when the celebrant had to use his
hands, as at the incensation, consecration, &c., the chasuble
had to be rolled up to his shoulder, and held there by the
sacred ministers. A relic of this custom is still to be seen
in our modern Solemn Mass, when, during the incensation,
the sacred ministers hold up, or make a pretence of holding
up, the celebrant's chasuble at the shoulder, and in both
Solemn and Low Mass when, at the consecration, the
262 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ministers raise the celebrant's chasuble. The inconvenience
felt in saying private Masses with the Gothic chasuble soon
brought about a modification, and gradually reduced the
chasuble to its present form. The following, translated
from Cardinal Bona, bears out the views we have just
expressed : —
The Latins, to avoid the inconvenience arising from the width
and fulness [of the Gothic chasuble], covering, as it did, the
whole body and arms, began by degrees to cut away the sides,
until it was reduced to the form which we use at the present day.
3. De gustibus non est disputandum is a venerable adage,
and out of respect for it we will refrain from discussing the
relative aesthetic qualities of the older and newsr forms of
the episcopal mitre, and will content ourselves with answer-
ing our correspondent's question. The question implies that
the small mitre endured until the time of the so-called
Reformation, or thereabouts. This is not so. The middle
of the thirteenth century might be put down as the date at
which the change from the old to the new form began. At
the beginning of that century the old form still prevailed,
as we learn from contemporary paintings of bishops of the
period ; while from a similar source we know that at the
beginning of the fourteenth century the mitre had assumed
proportions as great, if not greater, than the mitres now in
use ; and from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth the
mitres increased in height, until they had become really
' unshapely.' But in the present century a change in the
opposite direction has taken place, and the mitres worn by
bishops, in these countries, at least, resemble in height and
appearance, the mitres of the late thirteenth century.
THE QUALITY OF THE CANDLES TO BE USED DURING
MASS, &c.
A correspondent wishes to know whether it is lawful to use
other than wax candles at Mass, at Benediction of the Most
Holy Sacrament, when giving Communion outside of Mass, and,
generally, when the Blessed Srcrament is exposed. He is aware
that some priests contend that only wax candles should be used
NOTES AND QUERIES 263
on these occasions, while others maintain that it is not obligatory
to use wax candles at all ; and others again assert that when
several candles must be used some should be of wax, but, also,
that some may be of another material.
The candles used at Mass should all be wax. This is a
strict obligation, unless, on the score of poverty, a dis-
pensation has been procured. Of course we speak only of
the candles prescribed by the rubrics; that is, the two candles
which should be lighted during the Mass celebrated by a
simple priest, and the four with which the altar should be
adorned during a prelate's Mass. In addition to these
candles, which are purely ceremonial, there may be others
of a.n inferior material for the purpose of giving light.
During any exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, whether
it be the exposition which immediately precedes Benediction,
the exposition for the Forty Hours' Adoration, or any other
exposition whatsoever, at least ten wax candles should be
lighted. One author would allow Benediction with as few
as six wax candles ; but we are inclined to believe that he
had in mind private, rather than solemn exposition and
Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament. The Instructio
Clementina commands that twenty wax candles should be
kept continuously burning during the Quarant 'Ore; and
although this instruction does not impose any obligation
outside of Borne, and is concerned solely about the exposition
of the Forty Hours, its provisions present a model which
should be followed as far as circumstances permit in every
solemn exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament. Of course,
in addition to the prescribed number of wax candles, any
number of candles of a cheap material may be lighted round
about the altar on which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed.
When giving Communion outside of Mass two wax
candles should be lighted on the altar. The obligation of
using wax candles in this case is the same as the obligation
of using them at Mass.
D. O'LoAN.
[ 264 ]
CORRESPONDENCE
THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH
KEY. DEAR SIR, — It is not without disappointment, a feeling
which I share with very many others, that I contemplate
Dr. MacCarthy's latest and (as we are to infer) last communication.
It is a production that calls for even a ' compiler's ' pity. For
in what relation do we, the great Dr. MacCarthy and the
humble author of The Ancient Irish Church as a Witness to
Catholic Doctrine, now stand ? Mark but the present position of
our controversy. It is this. In the January I. E. EECOBD I
placed before my polite antagonist a series of solid facts and
arguments. With these — unless he preferred to beat a succession
of retreats, more than any Xenophon could fittingly record,
from quite a number of his chosen entrenchments — it was
absolutely indispensable for him to seriously and systematically
grapple. That this was his only alternative, I take sober and
independent judgments to witness. We are now in possession of
his reply. And what are its contents? In any one way does he
traverse, or even try to traverse, the case which I presented?
No. Does he deal with one solitary division of it '? No. With
one particle of a part of it? No. But, to cover his graceful retire-
ment, he devotes a letter of five printed pages to the introduction
and discussion of new matter, and is as silent as a Harpocrates
on all that ought to have first engaged his earnest consideration ;
with now not a word to say about the Bobbio Missal, or about the
facts which annihilate his contention that that venerable document
is inadmissible as evidence of early Irish doctrine; not a word to
say for his misspelling of ' Bobbio,' in face of Italian literature
which condemns him; not a word about the pretended (but never
proved) irrelevance of St. Cummian's Penitential to the special
subjects of my book, by whichsoever of the St. Cummians, all
Irishmen, that Penitential was written; not a word to show that
heresy had made no inroad into Ireland in the age in which that
Penitential was drawn up ; not a word about the appearance here,
for instance, of Pelagianism towards the year 640, as noticed
in the pontifical letter to which, for the second time, I invited
his attention; not a word about the St. Gall Ordo of Penance,
CORRESPONDENCE 265
treated by him as another piece of irrelevance on my part, his
original assertion that this Ordo is ' purely Anglo-Saxon ' being
subsequently modified (and nullified) by the admission that the
writing in the MS. is Irish ; not a word about the incestuous
unions (in regard to which I was charged with libel) l formerly
somewhat prevalent in Ireland, as facts uncontroverted make
apparent ; not a word about Bishop O'Coffey or his alleged
parentage of Archbishop O'Murray ; not a word about the laugh-
able meaning erstwhile appended by my critic to sine vestitu in
the ancient Arrea or Commutations ; not a word about nomina, or
the rubric in the Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal,
once Mabillon, the erudite editor of that Missal, is brought into
court against him ; not a word about the tremendous question of
by versus to, both expressions yielding the very self-same sense in
the passage in the Canon referred to,2 although, against the use
of to, I was heretofore solemnly threatened with Menard, who has
not been produced yet, for the sufficiently satisfactory reason that
he left nothing whatever behind him upon English translations
of the Mass, and so wrote nothing that could clothe the one
English preposition with any degree of preference over the other.3
There even exists no proof that this famous French Benedictine
had the least knowledge of the English language.4 Nor, let me
here say, are all the English Prayer Books that have ever been
published unanimous for by, as Dr. MacCarthy will find out for
himself if he will only extend his researches over a large enough
number. In fine, my critic no longer combats my statement, my
inoffensive statement, that the computation of Easter is an
astronomical question, now that Lingard and Lanigan, to whose
authority that of many others might easily be added, are arrayed
against him. Thus, former strongholds are abandoned all along
1 Dr. MacCarthy, who brands me as a libeller, maligned the monastic scribes
in his December letter, by ridiculing the idea that they were at all regardful of
what tenets might characterise the theological scripts which they undertook to
copy ; and this month we have him talking of the ' perhaps malicious ingenuity
inveterate in the Brehon legists.' What next, I wonder !
2 Adrien Baillet says of a critic : — ' C'est un Chicaneur . . . lorsqu'il fait
un proces sur ime particule inutile, ou ?ur un article qui ne change rien au sens '
[italics mine]. See his Juaeniens det Savant, i., p. 54 : Paris, 1722.
3 Menard's note is simply the following: — '43. Quorum meritis. Ita in
versione Codini ; in liturgia quae sancto Petro tribuitur : avrivuv rf/ 7rpeo-/3ei'a,
id est, quorum intercessione.' See his Not a et Observations in 8. Gregorii Magni
Libntm Sacra »ieiitorion, Migne, Patrol ogia Lattna, Ixxviii., col. 276 : Paris, 1862.
4 In Menard's time (15S5-16H) but few of the continental literati thought
English worthy of notice.
•2()(3 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the line of operations by Dr. MacCarthy ; and so, to enlist an old
expression, he evacuates Flanders. He allows that I have
1 adopted an effectual method of bringing the present discussion
to a close ;' and, doubtless, not a few will be disposed to agree
with him, if having put forward so much, so very much, that he
is unable to answer, can count for anything towards such
an issue. Saith an Arabian adage, 'He who defends his nose
sometimes cuts it off ; ' 1 and with the wisdom of the aphorism
my courteous opponent seems disinclined to quarrel. Of course it
is not for me to urge any man to his destruction.
Here, before entering upon Dr. MacCarthy's new matter, I
desire to add something to my last letter on two points : (1) on
nomina in the Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal ; (2) on
the O'Coffey and O'Murray question.
First, with regard to the Memento. It has already been pointed
out that Mabillon evidently did not consider nomina a rubric in the
Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal. I have now to say
that the use and custom of that Missal are totally against its being
so treated. Ancient Missals, it is hardly necessary to premise, are
not, without due inquiry, to be read through modern Missals, with
which they do not quite correspond, but by their own individual
light. Now, in the Bobbio Missal, wherever names were to be
introduced, the uniform rubric is the abbreviated pronoun ' ill.'
(the MS. has it 'II'2) or 'ill. & ill.,' as circumstances require.
Of this rubrical direction I have counted in its pages no fewer
than sixty-six examples, unrelieved by a single occurrence of
nomina, or AT., or NN., or N. et N. ; 3 and this, on the point
raised against me, should, I conceive, be decisive in my favour.
The following is a specimen instance from the Missa Roinensis
Cottidiana : — ' In primis quae tibi offerimus pro ecclesia tua
sancta catholica . . . una cum devotissimo famolo tuo ill. Papa
nostro, sedis apostolicae & Antestite nostro/ &c.4
From this we revert to the case of Bishop O'Coffey and
Archbishop O'Murray. In the Annals of Ulster the former is
briefly mentioned as the latter' s athair or ' father.' Dr. MacCarthy
iFreytag, Arabum Proverbia, i., p. 526 : Bonn, 1838.
2 Mabillon, Museum Itnlicum, i., pt. ii.( p. 346, note : Paris, 1724.
3 Mabillon, Mmettui Italicum, i., pt. ii., pp. 279, 322, 324, 344, 346, 347,
348, 350, 351, 352, 356, 359, 360. 361. 362, 364, 378, 384, 385, 386, 388, 389,
390, 391 : Paris, 1724. Some of these pages contain two, three, four, or five
instances of 'ill.' as a rubric.
4 Mabillon, Mmeum Italicum, i., pt. ii., p. 279 : Paris, 1724.
CORRESPONDENCE 267
contends that Bishop O'Coffey, had he been only Archbishop
O'Murray's ' fosterer or tutor,' would have been referred to as his
aite, not athair. It was not at all unusual, however, for an aite
— a ' fosterer or tutor ' — to receive the title of athair, or ' father.'
For example, in the Irish Life of St. Senan in the Book of
Lismore, that holy man is represented as addressing his aite as
' O father Notal," A atJiair, a Notail: again, ' O chosen father,'
A atJmir thogaidhi ; and Notal replies to him as ' My dear son,'
A meic inmain.1 Hence the mere presence of athair in the
Annals of Ulster, in connection with Bishop O'Coffey, is insufficient
to prove that Bishop O'Coffey was Archbishop O'Murray's parent :
while the difference in their surnames presents a difficulty which
Dr. MacCarthy will in vain struggle to get over.
We pass on now to the new criticisms. In his third paragraph
Dr. MacCarthy says : — ' To show the intelligent use made of the
" works quoted," the following is accepted as correct : " the
Brehon Laws assume the existence of a married as well as an
unmarried clergy. They make reference to two classes of bishops :
" the virgin bishop " and the " bishop of one wife." The " virgin
bishop," if he lapsed into sin, did not, they say, recover his
grade or pristine perfection, according to some ; but the " bishop
of one wife " did, provided he performed his penance within
three days.' Misled by the foregoing, many readers of the
I.E. RECORD must have concluded that /'accept as correct'
the existence of ' a married aa well as an unmarried clergy ' in
early Christian Ireland, and that in doing so I claim to be
supported by the authority of the Brehon Laws. They will
be somewhat astonished when I inform them that what is
set forth as my view is not mine at all, but is a Protestant
argument which I devote some space to refuting! How then
have I been so misrepresented? By the omission of the five
words which I now place in italics. ' Another common objection
is this : the Brehon Laws assume the existence of a married as
well as an unmarried clergy.' And so forth. In a manner which
will, no doubt, gain him many additional admirers, Dr. MacCarthy
chooses to commence his quotation of me at the colon ; and this,
with his own introductory remark, puts a false construction on
my language. The word ' objection,' it is true, occurs twenty
lines further on in his letter ; but, so far is it from helping any
1 Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore, p. 61 (lines 2038-2042) : Oxford,
1890.
268 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
one to a right understanding of the matter, that I appeal to
candour to determine whether he has not conveyed, to those who
have not my little book to refer to, the impression that I profess
an opinion which assuredly I do not. One who can fearlessly
mutilate an author in the fashion indicated should be particularly
chary of any talk about ' breaches of good faith.' 1
As to the wording of the aforesaid objection, now that it is
clearly established as such, I may say that I had the Vicar of
Ballyclough, the Eev. Thomas Olden, M.A., in my mind when I
stated it. An extract from his Church of Ireland is appended
for comparison.2
Dr. MacCarthy makes much ado about nothing when he writes
that the references to the ' virgin bishop ' and the ' bishop of one
wife' (an expression which is cleared up in my book) are to be found
in the ancient commentary on the Brehon Laws, not in the Laws
themselves. The Brehon Laws and the Brehon commentaries,
however, are preserved in the same MSS., and these MSS. may
be called the Brehon Laws for all practical purposes. The very
editors of the official edition are not superior to such a general
designation of their contents.3 Nor is the phenomenally accurate
Dr. MacCarthy, who, like Hudibras of yore, can
1 distinguish and divide
A hair 'twixt south and south-west side,'
above describing a MS. which contains — (1) excerpts from
St. John's Gospel ; (2) a Missal ; (3) an Ordo of Baptism ;
(4) an Ordo of Visitation of the Sick, including Extreme Unction
and Communion ; (5) an Irish tract on the Mass ; (6) three Irish
spells — by the name of the Stowe Missal.* Truth to say,
1 Only one charge of this sort was made against me. After I showed its
injustice Dr. MacCarthy did not revive it.
2 ' Still more important is it that the Brehon Laws assume the existence of
both married and unmarried clergy. Amongst the provisions relating to
ecclesiastics we find that if a bishop should fall into sin, a different penalty is
prescribed in i he case of the married and the celibate. If the offender is a
bishop of one wife, he may recover his grade or position by performing penance
within three days, but if he is a celibate he cannot recover it at all.1 See Olden,
The Church of Ireland, pp. 121-122 : London, 1892.
3 They say : — ' According to these Laws he could not leturn to his dignity
of bishop, but he might attain to a "higher grade," that is, that of aibhillteoir,
i.e. thaumaturg or miracle-worker, either as a hermit or a pilgrim. Now this
provision is in the commentary. See Senchns Mor, i., pp. 57, 58, 59 : Dublin,
1865.
4 The opening sentence of his paper On the Sfotce Missal, is: — 'The MS.
known as the Stowe Missal was enclosed in a costly shrine,' &c. See
Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xxvii., p. 135 : Dublin, 1877-86.
CORRESPONDENCE 269
it is the chief contents that give the style to the whole in these
composite MSS. But, in this respect, Dr. MacCarthy should
allow others as much liberty as himself.
Dr. MacCarthy is at some pains to suggest that my knowledge
of the Brehon Law collection is ' second or third hand. ' For this
supposition there is no foundation in reality.1 The particular
volume of the Senchus Mor to which I gave a reference — the
Eev. Mr. Olden's reference is a wrong one — has been in my
possession for twenty years.
We are not done yet, it seems, with errors of the press.
Dr. MacCarthy points to some more. I admit them. The clause
not rendered in a translation from the Leabhar Breac — 'and
which was crucified by the unbelieving Jews, out of spite and
envy ' — appears in my manuscript as supplied to the compositor.
Evidently, in setting the type, his eye skipped from the ' which '
at the end of one line to the ' which ' at the end of the next
one ; hence the omission. Hardly anyone, however, except
Dr. MacCarthy, would say that this omission leaves ' the English
reader to infer that the native writer did not believe in the
crucifixion.'
Dr. MacCarthy should not be too severe upon printers' errors.
There is a very fair crop of such in his own various publications.
There are some in all the letters that he has written against me.
In his last we have ' a Synodis Hibernensis,' and ' rescension.'
As ' rescension/ however, occurs twice, perhaps it is the critic, not
the compositor, that is to blame for this specimen of bad spelling.
'P. 161,' too, a reference to my book, should be 'p. 164.'
But to continue. In quoting a letter of St. Columbanus, it
seems that I exhibit ' a recension ' (I correct Dr. MacCarthy's
orthography of the word) 'and a translation, each equally notable.'
Well, the Latin, whatever may be said against it, was taken by
me from Migne's edition of the writings of St. Columbanus ;
and it is precisely the same in that of Gallandus. As to the
translation of adversariis potius manus dantis quam resistentis,
if Dr. MacCarthy has any fault to find with ' yielding help to,
instead of withstanding the enemy,' I would refer him to the
learned Catholic archaeologist, the Eev. Daniel Eock, D.D.,
1 Charging those whom he attacks with trusting to second-hand information
seems a favourite proceeding with Dr. MacCarthy. He supposes even the
veteran Dr. Whitley Stokes not to have ' acquaintance at first-hand with national
history.' See the I, E. RECORD, 3rd Series, xii., p. 158 ; Dublin, 1891.
270 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
author of the immortal works The Church of our Fathers and
Hierurgia, who renders the passage in this identical fashion.1
Next, I am remarked for having sitam for sita, and abierat for
obierat, in a quotation from the Book of Armagh. The correct
Latin is, of course, sita and obierat. But, after all, in the actual
Book of Armagh, both words are exactly as I give them. Of the
two printed editions referred to by me, one (that from which I
made the extract) follows the readings of the MS. for the text,
and gives the necessary emendations in footnotes : the other
does the reverse. I suppose if I had written sitam [sita],
abierat \obierat~], Aristarchus himself could have said nothing
against me.
' Celebrate, 0 festive Juda, the joys of Christ ' — a translation
of the opening line of St. Cummian Fota's hymn — should certainly
be : ' Celebrate, O Juda, the festive (or ' festal ') joys of Christ ;'
and it stands so, I find on inspection, in my manuscript. The
transposition of the word ' festive ' is the work of the compositor.
Hence, all that is said about ' the new Gradus ad Parnassum ' is
uncalled for, as far as I am concerned. I am prepared to admit
that Dr. MacCarthy is very great in Latin prosody. It is a pity
that he is not equally great in English syntax. I gave a single
specimen of his free and easy defiance of the rules of grammar in
my last letter. A hundred such atrocities — I have been going
through his writings lately — in present stock. . Terms moderate :
country orders carefully executed : parcels of the broken head
of Lindley Murray forwarded with despatch.
With regard now to the petitions in the Stoive Missal, eleven,
as with me, are reduced to eight by Dr. MacCarthy 's scheme
of punctuation. But where does he get that punctuation?
He will not, I opine, tender us the assurance that he can trace it
all to the original MS., the punctuation of which is rather peculiar.
And is the sense materially, or at all, affected by his doughty
alterations ?
Dr. MacCarthy is visibly not among the admirers of Dr. Warren,
a liturgiologist of the first order. It was very honourable, however,
of that gentleman, who, perhaps, like Person, thinks errors ' the
common lot of authorship,'2 to apologise for the mistakes of his
1 Rock, Did the Early Church in Ireland acknowledge the Pope's Supremacy ?
answered in a Letter to Lord John Manners, p. 50 : London, 1844.
2 Porsoa, Letters to Mr. Archdeacon Travis, Preface, p. xxxiv. : London,
1790.'
CORRESPONDENCE 271
transcript. Whatever I have seen, I have not seen any of
Dr. MacCarthy's apologies. The ' Textus Receptus,' as, in an
access of modesty, he calls his own edition of the Stoive Missal,
is not immaculate, any more than Dr. Warren's. No doubt,
in his scorn of the Oxford editor, Dr. MacCarthy, as it were,
falls down in adoration before himself, as to an unerring
transcriber. It is an amusing fact, nevertheless, that (to say
nothing of ancient MSS.) he cannot transcribe from himself or
others with entire correctness : he must either add or leave out,
or otherwise change. In the little that he now professes to take
from his own edition of the Stoive Missal he varies from himself
in punctuation in four instances : in his December letter, he alters
the punctuation in the two lines which he copies from Mabillon,
and substitutes a small letter for a capital : in the same letter
he leaves out three words (i.e. ' Far from it ') in the course of an
extract, on the first page, from his own essay On the Stoive Missal,
and again substitutes a small letter for a capital : in his August
effusion, he interpolates two words, not mine (I place them in
italics), in a quotation from The Ancient Irish Church, stating that
the Quartodecimans ' kept Easter on the 14th day of March,1 no
matter what day of the week it fell upon ;' and so I might go on,
launching forth among his publications, till there was more space
run away with than you would care to waste on such a subject.
In conclusion, if I am to part from Dr. MacCarthy at this
point, I am sorry for it. He attacked my book — which, like every
other book, has its demerits — intending to do it harm. He has
done it nothing but service ; a service for which I again thank
him. His assaults have had a stimulating effect upon the sales ;
and, otherwise, I have made more by the controversy than he
has. As the Spanish proverb says : — ' The ox that horned me
tossed me into a good place ' — El buey que me acorneo en baen
lucjar me echd. — Yours, &c.,
JOHN SALMON.
[This controversy must now cease. — ED. I. E. BECOBD.]
As previously noted, ' March ' is here a typographical error for 'moon.
[ 272 ]
DOCUMENTS
ENCYCLICAL OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIII. TO THE
CANADIAN BISHOPS ON THE MANITOBA SCHOOL
QUESTION
SANCTISSIMI DOMINI NOSTBI LEONIS DIVINA PBOVIDENTIA PAPAE XIII.
EPISTOLA ENCYCLICA AD ARCHIEPISCOPOS EPISCOPOS ALIOSQUE
LOCOBUM OBDINABIOS FOEDEBATABUM CIVITATUM CANADENSIUM
PACEM ET COMMUNIONEM CUM APOSTOLICA SEDE HABENTES.
VENERABILIBUS FBATBIBUS ABCHIEPISCOPIS EPISCOPIS ALIISQUE
LOCOBUM OBDINABIIS FOEDEBATABUM CIVITATUM CANADENSIUM
PACEM ET COMMUNIONEM CUM APOSTOLICA SEDE HABENTIBUS
LEO PP. XIII.
VENEBABILES FBATBES SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM BENEDICTIONEM
Affari vos, quod perlibenter atque amantissime facimus, vix
Nobis licet, quin sua sponte occurrat animo vetus et constans
Apostolicae Sedis cum Canadensibus vicissitudo benevolentiae
consuetudoque officiorum. Ipsis rerum vestrarum primordiis
comitata Ecclesiae catholicae caritas est : maternoque semel
acceptos sinu, amplexari vos, fovere, beneficiis afficere numquam
postea desiit. Certe, immortalis vir Franciscus de Laval Mont-
morency, primus Quebecensium episcopus, quas res pro avorum
memoria pro salute publica felicissime sanctissimeque gessit,
auctoritate gratiaque subnixus romanorum Pontificum gessit.
Neque alio ex fonte auspicia atque orsus agendarum rerum
cepere consequentes episcopi, quorum tanta extitit magnitude
meritorum. Similique ratione, si spatium respicitur vetustiorum
temporum. non istuc commeare nisi nutu missuque Sedis Apos-
tolicae consuevere virorum apostolicorum generosi manipuli,
utique christianae sapientiae lumine elegantiorem cultum atque
artium honestissimarum semina allaturi. Quibus seminibus
multo eorum ipsorum labore sensim maturescentibus, Canaden-
sium natio in contentionem urbanitatis et gloriae cum excultis
gentibus sera, non impar venit. Istae sunt res Nobis omnes
admodum ad recordationem iucundae : eo vel magis, quod earum
permanere fructus cernimus non mediocres. Ille profecto per.
DOCUMENTS 273
magnus, amor in catholica multitudine sfcudiumque vehement
divinae religionis, quam scilicet maiores vestri primum et maxime
ex Gallia, turn ex ETibernia, mox quoque aliunde, auspicato
advecti, et ipsi sancte coluerunt et posteris inviolate servandam
tradiderunt. Quamquam, si optimam hanc hereditatam tuetur
posteritas memor, facile intelligimus quantam huius laudis partem
sibi iure vindicet vigilantia atque opera vesira, venerabiles
Fratres, quantam etiam vestri sedulitas Cleri • omnes quippe
concordibus animis, pro incolumitate atque incremento catholici
nominis assidue contenditis, idque, ut vera fateamur non invitis
neque repugnantibus Britannici imperil legibus. Itaque com-
munium recte factorum vestrorum cogitatione adducti, cum Nos
romanae honorem purpurae Archiepiscopo Quebecensiurn aliquot
ante annis contulimus, non solum ornare viri virtutes, sed
omnium istic catholicoruni pietatem honorifico afficere testimonio
voluimus. Ceterum de institutione laborare ineuntus aetatis, in
qua et christianae et civilis reipublicae spes maximae nituntur,
Apostolica Sedes numquam intermisit, coniuncto vobiscum et
cum decessoribus vestris studio. Hinc constituta passim ado-
lescentibus vestris ad virtutem, ad litteras erudiendis complura
eademque in primis florentia, auspice et custode Ecclesia, domi-
cilia. Quo in genere eminet profecto magnum Lyceum Quebecense,
quod ornatum atque auctum omni iure legitimo ad legum ponti-
ficiarum consuetudinem, satis testatur, nihil esse quod expetat,
studeatque Apostoliqua Sedes vehementius, quam educere civium
sobolem expolitam litteris, virtute commendabilem. Quamobrem
summa cura, ut facile per vos ipsi iudicabitis, animum ad eos
casus adiecimus, quos catholicae Manitobensium adolescentu-
lorum institution! novissima tempora attulere. Volumus enim et
velle debemus omni, qua possumus, ope et contentione eniti atque
efficere ut fides ac religio ne quid detriment! capiant apud tot
hominum millia, quorum Nobis maxime est commissa salus, in
ea praesertim civitate quae christianae rudimenta doctrinae non
minus quarn politioris initia humanitatis ab Ecclesia catholica
accepit. Cumque ea de re plurimi sententiam expectarent a
Nobis, ac nosse cuperent qua sibi via, qua agendi ratione utendum,
placuit -'nihil ante statuere, quam Delegatus Noster Apostolicus
in rem .praesentem venisset : qui, quo res statu essent exquirere
diligenter et ad Nos subinde referre iussus, naviter ac fideliter
effectum dedit quod mandaveramus.
Caussa profecto vertitur permagni momenti ac ponderis. De
VOL. Ill, S
271 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
eo intelligi volumus, quod septem ante annis legumlatores Pro-
vinciae Manitobensis consessu suo de disciplina puerili decrevere :
qui scilicet, quod leges Canadensis foederis sanxerant, pueros
professione catholica in ludis discendi publicis institui educarique
ad conscientiam animi sui ius esse, id ius contraria lege sustulere.
Qua lege non exiguum importatum detrimentum. Ubi enim
catholica religio aut ignoratione negligitur, aut dedita opera
iinpugnatur : ubi doctrina eius contemnitur, principiaque unde
gignitur, repudiantur ; illuc accedere, eruditicnis caussa, adoles-
centulos nostros fas esse non potest. Id sicubi factitari sinit
Ecclesia, non nisi aegre ac necessitate sinit, multisque adhibitis
cautionibus, quas tamen constat ad pericula declinanda nimium
saepe non valere. Similiter ea deterrima omninoque fugienda
disciplina. quae, quod quisque malit fide credere, id sine ullo
discrimine orane probet et aequo iure habeat, velut si de Deo
rebusque divinis rectene sentias an secus, vera an falsa secteris,
nihil intersit. Probe nostis, venerabiles Fratres, oranem disci-
plinam, puerilem, quae sit eiusmodi, Ecclesiae esse iudicio
damnatam, quia ad labefactandam integritatem fidei tenerosque
puerorum aniraos a veritate flectendos nihil fieri perniciosius
potest.
Aliud est praeterea, de quo facile vel ii assentiantur, qui
cetera nobiscum dissident : nimirum non mera institutione litte-
raria, non solivaga ieiunaque cognitione virtutis posse fieri, ut
alumni catholici tales e schola aliquando prodeant, quales patria
desiderat atque expectat. Tradenda eis graviora quaedam et
maiora sunt, quo possint et christiani boni et cives frugi probique
evadere : videlicet informentur ad ipsa ilia principia necesse est,
quae in eorum conscientia mentis alte insederint, et quibus
parere et quae sequi debeant, quia ex fide ac religione sponte
efflorescunt. Nulla est enim disciplina morum digna quidem hoc
nomine atque efficax, religione posthabita. Nam omnium offici-
orum forma et vis ab iis officiis maxime ducitur, quae hominem
iungunt iubenti, vetanti, bona malaque sancienti Deo. Itaque
velle animos bonis imbuere moribus simulque esse sinere religionis
expertes tarn est absonum, quam vocare ad percipiendam virtutem,
virtutis fundamento sublato. Atque catholico homini una atque
unica vera est religio catholica : proptereaque nee morum is
potest, nee religionis doctrinam ullam accipere vel agnoscere,
nisi ex intima sapientia catholica petitam ac depromptam. Ergo
iustitia ratioque postulat, ut non mode cognitionem litterarum
DOCUMENTS 275
alumnis schola suppeditet, verum etiam earn, quam diximus,
scientiam morum cum praeceptionibus de religione nostra apte
coniunctam, sine qua nedum non fructuosa, sed perniciosa plane
omnis futura est institutio. Ex quo ilia necessario consequuntur :
magistris opus esse catholicis libros ad perlegendum, ad ediscen-
dum non alios, quam quos episcopi probarint, assumendos :
liberam esse potestatem oportere constituendi regendique omnem
disciplinam, ut cum professione catholici nominis, cumque officiis
quae inde proficiscuntur, tota ratio docendi discendique apprime
congruat atque consentiat. Videre autern de suis quemque liberis,
apud quos instituantur, quos habeant vivendi praeceptores, mag-
nopere pertinet ad patriam potestatem. Quocirca cum catholici
volunt, quod et velle et contenders officium est, ut ad liberorum
suorum religionem institutio doctoris accommodetur, iure faciunt.
Nee sane iniquius agi cuin iis queat, quam si alteratrum malle
compellantur, aut rudes et indoctos quos procrearint, adolescere,
aut in aperto reruni maximaruni discrimine versari.
Ista quidem et iudicandi principia et agendi, quae in veritate
iustitiaque nituntur, nee privatorum tantummodo, sed rerum
quoque publicarum continent salutem, nefas est in dubium
revocare, aut quoquo modo deserere. Igitur cum puerorum
catholicorum institutionem debitam insueta lex in Manitobensi
Provincia perculisset, vestri muneris fuit, venerabiles Fratres,
illatam iniuriam ac perniciem libera voce refutare : quo quidem
officio sic perfuncti singuli estis, ut communis omnium vigilantia
ac digna episcopis voluntas eluxerit. Et quam vis hac de re satis
unusquisque vestrum sit conscientiae testimonio commendatus,
assensum tamen atque approbationem Nostram scitote accedere :
sanctissima enim ea sunt quae conservare ac tueri studuistis,
studetis.
Ceterum incommoda legis Manitobensis, de qua loquimur,
per se ipsa monebant, opportunam sublevationem rnali opus esse
concordia quaerere. Catholicorum digna caussa erat, pro qua
omnes omnium partium aequi bonique cives consiliorum societate
summaque conspiratione voluntatum contenderent. Quod, non
sine magna iactura, contra factum. Dolendum illud etiam magis,
catholicos ipsos Canadenses sententias concorditer, ut oportebat,
minime in re tuenda iunxisse, quae omnium interest plurimum:
cuius prae magnitudine et pondere silere studia politicarum
rationum, quae tanto minoris sunt, necesse erat.
Non sumus necii, emendari aliquid ex ea lege coeptum. Qui
276 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
foederatis, civitatibus quique Provinciae cum potestate praesunt,
nonnulla iam decrevere minuendorum gratia incommodorum, de
quibus expostulare et conquer! catholic! ex Manitoba merito
insistunt. Non est cur dubitemus, susteptum id aequitatis amore
fuisse consilioque laudabili. Dissirnulari tamen id quod res est,
non potest : quam legem ad sarcienda damna condidere, ea
manca est, non idonea, non apta. Multo maiora sunt, quae
catbolici petunt, quaeque eos iure petere, nemo neget. Praeterea
in ipsis illis temperamentis, quae excogitata sunt, hoc etiam inest
vitii quod, mutatis locorum adiunctis. carere effectu facile possunt.
Tota ut res in breve cogatur, iuribus catholicorum educationique
puerili nondum est in Manitoba consultum satis : res autem
postulat, quod est iustitiae consentaneum, ut omni ex parte con-
sulatur, nimirum in tuto positis debitoque praesidio septis iis
omnibus, quae supra attigimus, incommutabilibus augustissimis-
que principiis. Hue spectandum, hoc studiose et considerate
quaerendum. Cui quidem rei nihil obesse potest discordia peius :
coniunctio animorum est et quidam quasi concentus actionum
pernecessarius. Sed tamen cum perveniendi eo, quo propositum
est et esse debet, non certa quaedam ac definita via sit, sed
multiplex, ut fere fit in hoc genere rerum, consequitur varias
esse posse de agendi ratione honestas easdemque conducibiles
sententias. Quamobrem universi et singuli meminerint modestiae,
lenitatis, caritatis mutuae : videant ne quid in verecundia pec-
cetur, quam alter alteri debet : quid ternpus exigat, quid optimum
factu videatur, fraterna unanimitate, non sine consilio vestro,
constituant, emciant.
IT, Ad ipsos ex Manitoba catholicos nominatim quod attinet,
futuros aliquando totius voti compotes, Deo adiuvante, confidimus.
Quae spes primum sane in ipsa bonitate caussae conquiescrit :
deinde in virorum, qui res publicas administrant, aequitate ac
prudentia, turn denique in Canadensium, quotquot recta sequ-
untur, honesta voluntate nititur. Interea tamen, quam diu
rationes suas vindicare nequeant universas, salvas aliqua ex parte
habere ne recusent. Si quid igitur lege, vel usu, vel hominum
facilitate quadam tribuatur, quo tolerabiliora damna, ac remotiora
pericula fiant, omnino expedit atque utile est concessis uti,
fructumque ex iis atque utilitatem quam fieri potest maximam
capere. Ubi vero alia nulla mederi ratione incommodis liceat,
hortamur atque obsecramus, ut aucta liberalitate munificentiatque
pergant occurrere. Non de salute ipsorum sua, nee de prosperi-
DOCUMENTS 277
tate civitatum merer! melius queant, quam si in scholarum
puerilium tuitionem contulerint, quantum sua cuique sinat
facultas.
Est et aliud valde dignum, in quo communie, vestra elaboret
industria. Scilicet vobis auctoribes, iisque adiuvantibus, qui
scholis praesunt, instituere accurate ac sapienter studiorum
rationem oportet, potissimumque eniti ut, qui ad docendum
accedunt, affatim et naturae et artis praesidiis instructe accedant.
Scholas enim catholicorum rectum est cum florentissimis quibus-
que de cultura ingeniorum, de litterarum laude, posse contendere.
Si eruditio, si decus humanitatis quaeritur, honestum sane ac
nobile iudicandum Provinciarum Canadensium propositum,
augere ac provehere pro viribus expetentium disciplinam insti-
tutionis publicam , quo politius quotidie ac perfectius quiddam
contingat. Atqui nullum est genus scientiae, nulla elegantia
doctrinae, quae non optime possit cum doctrina atque institutione
catholica consistere.
Hisce omnibus illustrandis ac tuendis rebus quae hactenus
dictae sunt, possunt non parum ii ex catholicis prodesse, quorum
opera in scriptione praesertim quotidiana versatur. Sint igitur
memores officii sui. Quae vera sunt, quae recta, quae christiano
nomini reique publicae utilia, pro iis religiose animoque magno
propugnent : ita tamen ut decorum servent, personis parcant,
modum nulla in re transiliant. Vereantur ac sancte observent
episcoporum auctoritatem, omnemque potestatem legitimam :
quanto autem est temporum difficultas maior, quantoque dis-
sensionum praesentius periculum, tanto insistant studiosius
suadere sentiendi agendique concordiam, sine qua vix aut ne vix
quidem spes est futurum ut id, quod est in optatis omnium
nostrum, impetretur.
Auspicem coelestium munerum benevolentiaeque Nostrae
paternae testem accipite Apostolicam benedictionem, quam
vobis, venerabiles Fratres, Clero populoque vestro peramanter
in Domino impertimus.
Datum Eomae apud S. Petrum die vm Decembris, An.
MDCCCXCCII Pontificatus Nostri vicesimo.
LEO PP. XIII.
278 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
SOLUTION OF DOUBTS REGARDING EXTRAORDINARY
CONFESSORS OF NUNS
DUBIA QUOAD CONFESSARIOS EXTRAOKDINARIOS RELIGIOSARUM
Die 1 Februarii 1892.
1. II favore accordato alle monache di ricorrere ad uno
straordinario 'quoties ut propriae conscientiae consulant ad id
adigantur ' e cosi illimitato e incondizionato che esse se ne pos-
sano servire costantemente senza ricorrere mai al confessore
ordinario e senza poter essere sindacate neppure dal Vescovo
su questo punto, e da esso in qualche rnodo impedite se fossero
guidate da ragioni biasimevoli e insulse ?
2. I confessori aggiunti ban no alcuni doveri di coscienza di
rifiutarsi ad ascoltare le confessioni delle suore, quando ricono-
scono che non esiste un plausibile rnotivo che le astringa di
ricorrere ad essi ?
3. Se parecchie suore (e peggio ancora se la maggior parte
di esse) ricorressero costantemente a qualcuno dei corifessori
aggiunti, il Vescovo deve tacere, o intervenire con qualche prov-
vedimento per tutelare la massima sancita nella bolla ' Pastoralis ' :
' Generaliter statutum esse dignoscitur, ut pro singulis monia-
lium monasteriis unus dumtaxat confessarius deputetur ' ?
4. E posto che debba intervenire, qual provvedimento potra
legalmente adottare ?
Ad I. Negative.
Ad II. Affirmative.
Ad III. Negative ad primam partem. affirmative ad secundam.
Ad IV. Moneat Ordinarius moniales et sorores, de quibtis
agitur, dispositionem Articuli IV Decreti ' Quemadmodum ' x
exceptionem tantum legi communi constituere, pro casibus dum-
taxat verae et absolutae necessitatis, quoties ad id adigantur,
firmo remanente quod a S. Concilio Tridentino et a Constitutione
s. m. Benedicti XIV mcipien. ' Pastoralis Curae ' praescriptum
habetur.
1Decretum hoc relatum fuit voL xxiii. , 505.
[ '279 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
MY LIFE IN Two HEMISPHERES. By Sir Charles Gavan
Duffy. Two vols. 32s, London ; T. Fisher Unwin.
THESE two splendid volumes relate the principal events in
the life of one of the most remarkable Irishmen of the nineteenth
century. They are full of interest from many points of view.
Here, however, we are naturally concerned most with those parts
of them which deal with the relations of Church to society in our
own country and in our own times ; for Sir Charles, from his
earliest days, was closely connected with ecclesiastics, and took
all through his life the deepest interest in the action and govern-
ment of the Church, and in its influence on the course of public
affairs. It is, therefore, not alone to the Church historian of the
future, but also to those members of the clergy who desire, at the
present day, to influence the world around them, and to be guided
in their action by the experience of the past, that these volumes
will be found most useful.
"We do not say that the author is to be regarded either as a
prophet or as a guide ; but his views on things ecclesiastical are
always worthy of attention. They are the views of a very
friendly critic, and of one who, though a Liberal and champion
of Liberalism, evidently values the Catholic faith as the most
precious gift that any man can possess, and who would be as
ready, if the occasion called for it, to sacrifice every earthly
interest, as his Northern forefathers were, in order to preserve it
intact for himself and others. In his second volume he tells us
that he looked up to Montalembert ' as the ideal of what a
Catholic gentleman should be, genuinely pious and a strict
disciplinarian, but entirely free from religious bigotry or intole-
rance, the rooted enemy of despotism, and the friend of personal
and political liberty everywhere.'
This is clearly not the place to review the history of Liberalism
and Conservatism in Church government, or to discuss the merits
of the fierce contests that raged in France and elsewhere
between the champions of the two great schools. It is sufficient
280 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
to note that Duffy is always on the left, but never on the extreme
left.
We must refer our readers to the volumes themselves for
confirmation of this appreciation of ours ; but, in the limited space
at our disposal, we wish to emphasize the importance of the
autobiography from the point of view of ecclesiastical history. No
one can accurately gauge the strength of the forces that were at
work in Ireland from 1848 to 1879, who does not read this work.
The two ecclesiastics who were most closely associated with
Sir Charles, though in very diverse ways, were Dr. Murray of
Maynooth, and Canon Doyle of Wexford. There is frequent
mention of them in the two volumes.
There are very many other interesting references to matters
and persons ecclesiastical — to Cardinal Cullen, Dr. Newman,
Father Burke, O.P. ; Dr. Moriarty, Dr. O'Hanlon, Canon Doyle,
Father O'Shea, &c. We may not always accept the prin-
ciples of the writer; we may not agree with him in all his
appreciations of persons and of things; but we must always
recognise in him a Liberal of the very best and highest type, a
genuinely religious Catholic, and a man of extraordinary versa-
tility. Perhaps the element that attracts us most in these volumes
is the sympathy of the author with art, literature, and science,
and the evidence of his intercourse with many of the greatest
men of his time in all these departments. This is a feature
which he possessed in common with his model, Montalembert,
and, indeed, with nearly all the men of the mid-century period
who were noted for their high political ideals.
J. F. H.
THE EUCHAKISTIC CHEIST. By Eev. A. Tesniere. Trans-
lated by Mrs. A. R. Bennett-Gladstone. New York :
Benziger Brothers.
IN 1856 a religious society of priests, called the Congregation
of the Most Holy Sacrament,1 was founded in Paris by Pere
Eymard. Six years later it obtained the canonical approval of
Pius IX., and in 1895, besides the mother house in Paris, there
were foundations established in Marseilles, Eome, Brussels, and
Montreal. This Congregation, as its name implies, is devoted
exclusively to the worship and apostolate of the Blessed Sacra -
1 See I. E. RECOBD, June, 1895.
NOTICES OF BOOKS 281
ment. In their churches there is perpetual exposition ; and by
sermons, writings, and the organization of Eucharistic associa-
tions and congresses, the fathers of the Congregation seek to
awaken and propagate devotion to Jesus, hidden under the
sacramental veil.
To one of those associations, viz., the Confraternity of Priest-
adorers, attention has already been directed in the pages of the
1. E. EECOBD. 1 We may state here that this aggregation, as it is
called, was canonically erected at Eome, on the 16th January,
1887, with the approval of the Pope and the commendation of a
large number of archbishops and bishops from different parts of
the world. It consists of priests who undertake ' to make every
week one continuous hour of adoration before the Most Holy
Sacrament, either exposed or shut up in the tabernacle.'2 It is
scarcely necessary to specify the objects of the Association.
Briefly they are — 1. To draw the priest nearer to the Eucharist.
2. To form ardent apostles of the love of Jesus for man. 3. To
secure the triumph of the Church by united prayer before the
tabernacle. 4. To make reparation for the coldness and ingrati-
tude of indifferent Catholics. It is not surprising that an idea
at once so beautiful in itself, and so practical from the point of
view of personal sanctification and missionary success, should
have ' struck a responsive chord.' At present there are over fifty
thousand priests enrolled in the Association. Of these, three
thousand are in the United States, and nearly three hundred in
Ireland, where, it should be added, the devotion has only been a
few years established.
' In the interest of this Confraternity [writes Dr. M'Mahon, in
his learned preface to the book before us] many works have been
published in French. The present, The Eucharistic Christ, is
the first that has been put into English dress, in the hope that
its reflections and pious thoughts may find favour among the
American members of the Confraternity. '
We trust they may also find favour among ourselves, and that
the circulation of this book will help to propagate a devotion
which is peculiarly suited to the needs of our age. Advertise.
1 See I. E. RECORD, July, 1894.
2 This is the principal condition of membership. The Rev. A. Simon,
Wilton College, Cork, the Director-General for the United Kingdom, will
send full conditions of membership on application, with stamped envelope
enclosed.
282 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ment, show, making a noise, are now more than ever in fashion.
To see one's name in leaden type as having done, or spoken, or
written something suitable, is the ambition of not a few, possibly
of not a few whose serene wisdom should have taught them —
' The ocean deep is mute, while shallows roar. '
In contrast with the brawling ways of man, how fearfully
quiet and unobtrusive is the presence of God in His own world-
So also remarks the writer of the preface : —
' May we not also say [he writes] that the Spirit of the Blessed
Sacrament, which Father Faber so beautifully shows to be the
Spirit of the Holy Infancy, namely, simplicity and hidden life,
is directly opposed to the spirit of the age, ever desirous of
proclaiming and extolling its various beneficent deeds.'
In one hour of continuous adoration before the Most Holy
Sacrament a thoughtful man cannot fail to learn this much, and,
if it be not his own fault, he will derive from this exercise such
refreshment as the world, with all its food-stuffs, and drink-stuffs,
and mind-stuffs, cannot give. We have great pleasure, then,
in introducing The Eucharistic Christ to the readers of the
I. E EECOKD.
The first chapter is introductory, and explains at length the
' Object and End of the Adoration ' : —
' The adoration has a threefold object, and ought to be con-
sidered in a threefold relation. It is, first, our Lord Jesus
Christ that it ought to honour beneath the Eucharistic veils ;
next it is the love of the adorer, which it ought to sanctify;
and, lastly, it is our neighbour, which it ought to assist and to
help, and especially the Church.'
The second chapter is occupied with the ' Method of Adoration.'
Taking as a basis the following sentence from St. Thomas, which
is a condensed treatise on religion : ' Homo maxime obligatur Deo
propter Majestatem egus, propter beneficia jam accepta, propter
offensam, et propter beneficia sperata.' F. Eymard designed
the ' Method of the Four Ends of Sacrifice.' The third chapter
contains a programme of ' Acts of the Faculties and of the Virtues
in each of the Four Ends ; ' so that the adorer is furnished with
a scientific and practical method of adoration, which makes it not
only possible but easy to occupy the whole hour with appropriate
thoughts and affections. But the author has done very much
NOTICES OF BOOKS 283
more. In the succeeding chapters this method is applied to the
following subjects, viz. : — ' The Institution of the Eucharist,' 'The
Fact,' 'The Masterpiece of God,' 'The Priest,' 'The Sacrifice,'
' The Eucharist a Memorial of the Passion,' « The Most Holy
Body of Jesus,' ' The Precious Blood,' ' The Heart of Jesus in the
Eucharist,' 'The Five Wounds,' 'The Eucharistic State,' 'The
Diffusion of the Eucharist,' ' The Perpetuity of the Eucharist,'
1 The Universality of the Eucharist.'
From this brief outline of its contents it will be seen that the
book is admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was
written. The first chapter will go far to induce the reader to
become a member of the association ; the second tells the novice
how he is to carry out the principal condition of membership ;
while the bulk of the volume may be called, Hours before the
Most Holy Sacrament.
So much for the merits of this work. Has it any faults?
The style is tolerable ; it might be better ; but it is good enough
for any reader, and particularly for anyone who intends to use the
book as an aid to devotion. In such a work we look more to
substance than to form. From this point of view the only positive
fault we noticed is a certain amount of theological vagueness in
the discussion of that most profound mystery, viz., the modus
existendi of Christ in the Eucharist. We read, for instance, in
page 50 : — •
' And in this point of consecrated bread, imperceptible, inde-
visible, . . . Christ continues to be living . . . with His face and
its sweet expression, with His Heart whose palpitations our love
or our coldness hastens or abates.'
And again on page 95 : —
' The eyes of Jesus behold us through the holy species ; His
ears hearken to our prayers.'
But on page 149 we are told the Eucharistic annihilation is
' inaction . . . there is neither sensibility nor movement, nor a
glance of the eyes.'
We do not deny that those apparently contradictory state-
ments may be true in different senses. We think, however, that
an author should avoid the semblance of contradiction, and take
care that his expressions leave no confused or false impressions
on the minds of his readers. A footnote of reference to Franzelin,
which evidently he had at hand, would at least have indicated
284 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
to the inquisitive reader a means of discriminating between the
author's rhetoric and his theology. We shall discuss the two
expressions that seem most contradictory, viz. , ' The eyes of Jesus
behold us through the holy species/ and, there is neither sensi-
bility . . . nor a glance of the eyes.'
That Jesus sees us in some real way there can, of course, be no
doubt. But has Jesus, as He is the Eucharist formaliter, the use of
His eyes so that He looks at us through the Sacramental Species?
It would seem that according to the common teaching of
theologians, the mode of Christ's existence in the Eucharist
excludes a connatural use of His eternal senses. ' Ex modo
existendi inextenso in thesi declarato sequitur. . . . Christum
Dominum, formaliter ut in hoc modo existendi sacramental i
se constituit non posse naturali virtute suae humanitates
evercere actus transeuntes in alia corpora, nee posse, spectata
solum naturali virtute animam Christi agere in proprium corpus
sive ad motum sive ad exercitium sensuum externorum.'
(Franzelim de SS. Eucheristia Thesis XI.) The italics are
Franzelin's, and are meant to convey that vision and hearing
are not connatural to the sacramental mode of Christ's existence
in the Eucharist. This learned theologian then proceeds to discuss
the question whether or not by a special miracle the Word com-
municates such exercise of the senses to His sacred humanity
(even as it is formaliter in the Eucharist) as befits the end of
the sacrament, for instance, seeing and hearing. Here is his
answer : —
' Hanc supernaturalem communicationem actuum visionis
et auditionis per sensus ipsos Sacratissimi Corporis in statu
Sacramentali quamvis communior sententia theologorum non
admittat, ut fatetur Card. Cienfuegos amplissimus ejus assertor
ac defensor, affirmant tamen S. Bonaventura, Tsambertus et
alii non pauci saltern ut probabilem ; simpliciter ut veram
Lessius, Cornelius a Lapide, Gamacheus, Martinonus, Tannerus ;
prae caeteris vero . . . Card. Cienfuegos . . . Mihi certe
haec sententia non propter diserta testimonia Scripturae et
Patrum, quae proferuntur parum efficacia, sed propter ejus
connectionem cum dignitate Sacratissimae humanitatis et cum
scopo et fine Sacramenti . . . videtur probabilissima et pia;
dummodo tamen non ita defendatur, ac si ea non admissa Christus
in sacramento non vivens sed instar mortui conceipi deberet.'
(Thesis XI.)
What then is to be thought of the expression : ' The eyes
NOTICES OF BOOKS 285
of Jesus behold us through the holy species.'? 1. It is
certainly true in this sense that Jesus has the same per-
ceptions in the Eucharist that He has in heaven, arid there-
fore, that nothing is hidden from Him who is present under
the Sacramental veil. 2. According to a probable opinion the
eyes of Jesus, as they are in the Eucharist, are, by a special
miracle, endowed with power of actual vision. The expression,
' there is no glance of the eye,' is true in this sense, that the eyes
of Jesus as they are in the Eucharist, are by the nature of the
Eucharistic state destitute of actual vision, although, according
to the probable opinion just mentioned, there is ' a glance of the
eye ' by a special miracle. It is beside my purpose to discuss the
probability of this special miracle, as I have had in view only to
reconcile our author's apparent contradictions. Sound theology,
however, should be the basis of all devotion, and it is hard to say
which is the greater misfortune ; that theologians don't do more
writing of spiritual books, or that spritual writers too often try to
improve on theology.
T. P. G.
SOME OF THE FEUITS OF FIFTY YEARS : ANNALS OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH IN VICTORIA. By the Most Kev.
Thos. J. Carr, Archbishop of Melbourne. Melbourne :
Massina & Co.
Some of the Fruits of Fifty Tears is a happy alternative title
of this quarto volume of ninety pages, which is more officially
styled the Annals of the Catholic Church in Victoria. Those
fruits are not merely recorded, but are rendered visible to the eye
through the medium of finely executed illustrations of all the
varied ecclesiastical buildings of Victoria. The Most Rev.
Author's design in compiling this work was, it appears, twofold :
(1) to commemorate the consecration of St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Melbourne, which took place on the 31st October, 1897 ; and
(2) ' to preserve to distant generations a knowledge of the early
history of missions, churches, schools, and religious houses, which
if not now carefully compiled would, in great part, be lost for
ever.' Judged by the illustrations alone which adorn the book, it
must at once be confessed, that the material progress of the
Catholic Church in Victoria is simply marvellous. Fifty years
ago, Dr. Goold was appointed first Bishop of Melbourne, with
286 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
jurisdiction over the whole of Victoria. At that date there were
only some six thousand Catholics in the whole Colony which was
alike destitute of churches and schools. To-day this Colony forms
an ecclesiastical province containing four bishoprics, namely, the
archiepiscopal see of Melbourne, and the dioceses of Ballarat,
Sandhurst, and Sale, each of which is equipped with churches,
presbyteries, monasteries, and schools. Standing apart by reason
of its style, position, and dimensions, is St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Melbourne. It was commenced in 1858, and its consecration last
October, in the presence of the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney,
the Governor of the Colony, the Australasian bishops, and an
immense concourse of all creeds and classes, synchonized with
the Golden Jubilee of the diocese of Melbourne. Tt occupies an
enviable position on the Eastern Hill. Some idea of its splendour
may be obtained from the following details : —
4 Length along nave and sanctuary, 340 feet ; length along
transepts, 185 feet. Width across nave and aisles, 82 feet ; width
across transepts and aisles, 82 feet. The height of nave and
transepts is 95 feet ; of the central tower, 260 feet, and of each
of the front flanking towers, 203 feet. The dignity of the
building externally is enhanced by the flying buttresses and the
carved pinnacles. The whole building is lit with electric light.
The carrying of the aisles along the sides of the transepts is
another important feature, providing as it does, along with the
chapels and arcaded sanctuary, imposing vistas and an air of
dignity and mystery. The style is a late form of early English
Gothic or decorated. The total area of the Cathedral is
35,000 square feet. The expenditure so far has amounted to
.£200,000.'
We have transcribed those items from the detailed description
contained in the work which want of space compels us to omit.
It is a pity the publishers did not contrive to give us some views
of the interior of this noble minster, but we feel it is ungracious
to make even so slight an adverse comment on a volume, the
artistic workmanship of which is, on the whole, sumptuous and
splendid.
Need we add, that the matter, which is both well ordered and
detailed, is most interesting as affording an insight into the
growth of the Church in the fairest province of Australia.
T. P. G.
NOTICES OF BOOKS 287
COMMENTARIUS DE JUDICIO SACRAMENTALI.
Baptistae Pighi, S. Theol. Doct. Ad Frutinam vocatus
a G. M. Van Kossum C.SS.R, S. Off. Cons. Editio
altera.
THE first edition of this work appeared in August. In less
than a month a new edition was called for. This is not sm*prising
when we consider the importance of the matter. The occasion of
the work was the Commentarius of Professor Pighi, which treated
especially of Occasionarii and Eccidivi. He dedicated his
work to St. Alphonsus, and professed to follow his teaching.
Father Van Kossum, therefore, as he tells us, expected to find
' Salutarem S. Doctoris in re tanti rnomenti doctrinam fideliter
expositam et expugnatam ' (p. 7). But he says : ' Quo magis
in legendo progrediebar, eo magis auctorem deflectere animadver-
tebam a prudentissima S. Alphonsi doctrina ' (p. 7). While,
therefore, declaring that the author was free to propose his own
opinions, he thinks it unfair to give them to his readers as those
of St. Alphonsus. 'Hanc,' says Father Van Eossum, 'mon-
strabo doctrinam cl. Professoris Pighi a saluberrimis S. Alphonsi
praeceptis omnino alienam ; simulque propriis S. Doctoris verbis
quid ipse de occasionariis et recidivis doceat exponam ' (p. 9).
This work, as a clear exposition in a few pages of the teaching of
St. Alphonsus, is of permanent utility, apart from the occasion
which called it forth. It gives, moreover, the teaching of our
best guides in those important matters.
We learn from words addressed to Benevolo Lector (p. 5),
that Professor Pighi published an Appendix in Italian, in which
he answers the Ad Trutinam as to the more important points.
This new edition deals with these, each in its proper place.
As to the form and order, the author gives the first chapter to
' Quo loco cl. Pighi S. Doctoris Alphonsi authoritatem, atque
doctrinam habeat.' Here, and indeed everywhere, he seems to us
to cite Professor Pighi fully and fairly. ' Probe animadvertatur, '
says St. Alphonsus, ' poenitentium salutem maxima ex parte
dependere a bona agendi ratione confessariorum in danda aut
differenda absolutione occasionariis et recidivis.' Here we
have indicated the matter of the second and third chapters :
De Occasionariis et De Recidivis. The matter is too important
to attempt an analysis ; but we cannot help thinking that the
languor in faith, and feebleness in dispositions with which
288 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Professor Pighi seems to credit his countrymen, must be confined to
the great centres of population ; and even in these, can we believe
that they are general? At. home we have rarely to deplore such
a state of things, and we are thankful that our people are well
able to bear the remedies that are either necessary or useful for
the cure of evil habits. We quite agree with Father Van Eossum
that it would be fatal to make a rule of that which should be an
exception. We willingly subscribe to the concluding words of
No. 80, p. 150 :—
' Deinde ex eo quod plures hodiedum inveniuntur, quibus
absolutio differenda non sit, non ideo cum omnibus poenitentibus
eadem ratione est agendum. Quod fides languet apud multos
non ideo languet apud omnes; quod languet in magnis civi-
tatibus, non ideo languet in omnibus urbibus ; quod languet
iri'urbe non ideo ruri languet ; quod ' languet in quibusdam
regionibus, non ideo languet ubique terrarum. Propterea magna
prudentia, discretione et circumspectione opus est, ne exceptiones
in regulam mutentur, ne ea, quae in extremis, sunt tentanda, in
ordinario verum statu adhibeantur, ne cum omnibus ubique indis-
criminatim agatur, acsi ubique et apud omnes fides languet.
Nihil enim efficatius fidem everteret et morum corruptelam
praecipitaret innumerarumque produceret animarum ruinam.'
We have been informed by the author of this work that owing
to the difficulty of procuring it ;outside Italy, it will be sent to
any priest in England, Ireland, or Australia, and may be paid for
by means of a shilling postal order addressed V. R. — S. Alfonso,
via Merulana, Eoma.
T M
•. . J . •»-!••
J ,i i . . .1. 1
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT
A.D. 590
I. THE SITE OF THE CONVENTION
WITH truth has it often been said that the
history and the scenery of our country share
a similar neglect, and that both are permitted
to remain unnoticed and uncared for, unless
when the sneer of a Thackeray, or the calumny of a Froude,
draws attention to the one or the other. It cannot be
denied that there are in our land beauties of mountain,
lake, and valley, which, were they found in Switzerland or
in Italy, instead of in Ireland, would be famed throughout
the world. ' The cold chain of silence ' which thus hangs
over our scenery, exerts an equally baneful influence over
the most interesting episodes of our history, such as to the
writer of ancient Greece or Home would have furnished fit
subjects for the display of eloquent narrative, or glowing
declamation. It is true that at times our annals are
defective, and that the critical writer hesitates to accept as
facts what at best may only prove to be probable conjectures;
still, had Livy, and Sallust, and Plutarch carried out that
rule, where now would be the thrilling eloquence and
touching biographies of pagan times ? But, without
wandering into the region of conjecture, we have more
than enough of interesting material to engage the pen of the
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III. — APRIL, 1898. I
290 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
essayist in the authentic and well-substantiated facts of our
national history. Of these not the least inviting theme,
and, as it seems to us, not the least important, is the
Convention of Drom-Ceat, held, according to the best
authorities, in the year 590.1
On the eastern shore of the Foyle, by the scanty stream
of the deep-channelled Koe, near the modern town of
Limavady, in the present county of Londonderry, is the
site of this famous convention. It is a spot which the pen
of Macaulay would have gloried to depict. Scenes of sylvan
beauty spread everywhere around. Wood and water,
mountain and glade, smiling villas and lordly demesnes
fill up a picture of no ordinary magnificence. And, as might
be expected, it is as interesting in its historical, as it is in
its natural aspect. The entire locality is teeming with
reminiscences of the past, which even the Ulster Plantation
was not able to destroy. Saints have hallowed this soil
by their labours ; some, like Canice, have shed a lustre upon
it by their birth; others, like Neachtain of Dungiven,
Muireadach O'Heney of Banagher, and Cadan of Magilligan
(nephew of St. Patrick), have either founded churches in the
vicinity, or sought a final resting-place by the slopes of the
adjacent mountains. Princes and warriors have fought for
the suzerainty of the rich champagne country around. In
his castle by the Eoe did O'Cahan dispense hospitality in
a truly Irish fashion, till that honoured name was stained
by the treason of Donald Ballagh, who became the foul
instrument of treachery in the unscrupulous hands of
Chichester and Montgomery — the latter of whom, with a
zeal not altogether apostolic, grasped the mitre and the
revenues of the united sees of Derry, Clogher, and Eaphoe.
But neither natural beauty, nor historical recollections,
no matter how interesting, have contributed to render
the spot so memorable as did the remarkable assembly
convoked by .ZEdh MacAinmire, the powerful king of Ireland,
1 Different dates have been assigned for this Convention, but we have
adopted the year 590 liecause it seems supported by the best authorities.
Dr. Reeves, in Colton's J'in'talion. gives this date, but in his Adamnin he seems
to incline to the year f>"4 as the proper date.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 291
and which was honoured by the presence of Columba,
the great father of western monasticism, and apostle
of the northern isles of Scotland. It may seem strange
that the site of so remarkable an event should now be a
matter of conjecture ; but such is the case not only regard-
ing this spot, but also regarding other equally memorable
places in the north of Ireland.
Dr. Keeves, and after him Dr. O'Donovan, fixed upon the
Mullagh, or Daisy Hill, in Eoe Park, beside Limavady, as
the site of the Convention ; but we trust to give reasons
sufficiently satisfactory for differing from authorities usually
so reliable. It is worthy of remark that the Four Masters
make no mention whatever of this Convention, though it
is referred to by Adamnan, and all the ancient annalists,
with whose writings they must have been familiar ; but
O'Donovan in a footnote to the Annals, under the year 575,
speaks of the assembly, and names the Mullagh as the place
where it was held. In Colton's Visitation, under the word
' Drumachose,' n., p. 132, Dr. Beeves thus writes : —
Independently of its connection with St. Cainech, this parish
is distinguished as having been the scene of the celebrated
convention called Mordail-Droma-Ceat, which was held in the
year 590, for the purpose of deciding the Dalriadic controversy,
at which St. Columbcille was present. Adamnan styles it ' Begum
in Dorso-cette Condictum.'
O'Donnell has preserved for us this clue to its position [we
quote from Colgan's Latin version of O'Donnell as given by
Dr. Keeves]. 'Columba, after sailing across the aforementioned
river [that is Lough Foyle], at the part where it is broadest,
turned the prow of his vessel to the river Eoe, which flows into
the aforesaid river, and the vessel of the holy man glided, with
the divine assistance, up this stream, though from the scantiness
of its waters it is otherwise unnavigable. But the place in which
the boat was then anchored, thenceforth from that circumstance
called Cabhan-an-Churaidh, i.e. "the hill of the boat," is very
near Drumceat. After making a moderate delay at that place,
the holy man, with his venerable retinue, set out to that charm-
ing, gently-sloping hill, commonly called Drumceat.
' Columba memoratum euripum [i.e. Loch Feabhail] qua longe
patet, emensus, navigii cursus dirigi fecit per Eoam amnem, in
predictum euripum decurrentem ; quern fluvium, quamquam
aquarum inopia alias innavigabilem, navis sancti viri divina
virtute percurrit. Locus autem in quo navicula subinde stetit,
292 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
deinceps ab eventu Cabhan an Churaidh, id est, collis cymbae
appelatus, Druimchettae pervicinus est. Caeterum modica eo loci
mora contracta, Vir Sanctus cum sua veneranda comitiva contendit
ad per amaenum ilium collem, leniter acclivem, vulgo Druimchett
vocatum.'1
Though at present [continues Dr. Eeeves] there are no local
traditions to help in the identification of the spot, it was well
known in Colgan's time, who writes : ' To-day and for ever
venerable, especially on account of the many pilgrimages, and
the public procession of the Blessed Sacrament, which on the
festival of All Saints is there annually made with an immense
concourse from all the neighbouring districts in memory of the
aforesaid synod there celebrated. ' ' Hodie et semper venerabilis,
maxime ob multas peregrinationes et publicam Theophoriam,
quae in festo omnium sanctorum in praedictae synodi memoriam
ibidem celebratae in eo quottannis fit, cum summo omnium vici-
narum partium accursu ' (Act. SS. p. 204, n. 13). The hill called
' the Ready,' which commences about two miles out of Newtown-
limavady, might be supposed, from the apparent similarity of the
name, to be the spot, but there can be little doubt that the artificial
mound in Eoe Park, called ; The Mullagh,' and sometimes • the
Daisy Hill,' is the real Drumceatt. It is situate in a meadow, at
a little distance from the house, on the N.W. ; it rises to the
height of about twenty feet, and measures about one hundred and
ninety by one hundred and seventy feet. The prospect from
it is exceedingly extensive and varied, commanding a view
of Magilligan, with its Benyevenagh, Aghanloo, Drumachose,
Tamlaght-Finlagan, and part of Innishowen. There is no local
tradition about the spot, except that it is reckoned ' gentle,' and
that it is unlucky to cut the sod. The truth is, the effects of the
Plantation have utterly effaced all the old associations of the
place. 2
We have thought it but just to Dr. Reeves to give
his note in extenso, inserting at the same time the
translation of the two Latin quotations for the benefit of
non-classical readers of the I. E. RECORD, that our reasons
for differing from him may be the more immediately and
clearly understood. We believe the site of the Convention
to have been a small hill on the opposite side of the Roe
from the Mullagh ; and we believe, moreover, that the
Ready derives its name from, and is only a modernized form
1 iii. 4, Tr. Th. p., 431.
2 Colton's Visitation, edited by Dr. Eeeves, Note under the parish of
Drumachose.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 293
of the latter part of the word Drum-Ceatta. The initial C in
Irish words being pronounced hard like the letter K would
give us the word as if written Keatta, precisely similar in
sound, and not very different in spelling from the modern
Keady. The river Roe at this particular part may be said
to run east and west, and the bank on either side may be
correctly enough termed northern and southern. This will
assist the reader to some extent in understanding the relative
position of the hills for which claim is made for being the
Drumceat of history. On the southern bank of the river
is the Mullagh ; about a quarter of a mile farther up the
stream than where it passes the Mullagh, the river is
engaged among rocks ; so it may be assumed, for certain, that
the hill of the Convention, on whatever side of the river
it lies, cannot be farther up than the Mullagh; i.e., we are
to look for it somewhere near the Roe, and between the
Mullagh and the mouth of the Roe. There are numerous
hills on both sides of the river, and to select out one of them
appears to be, to some extent, a question of probabilities.
The hill required, probably is a remarkable one ; so is the
Mullagh. This seems to be the sole reason and sum total
of its claims. Dr. Reeves, in a letter to the present writer,
in 1876, stated that: 'when he first saw the Mullagh, he fixed
on it as the site of the Convention,' without apparently any
reason beyond conjecture, and Dr. O'Donovan adopted his
view without further inquiry. This is the sole reason for the
Mullagh being selected in preference to any of the other
adjoining hills. The name Mullagh, however, is much
against it : — 1. Because a Mullagh cannot be a Drium.
2. As Drumceat was a well-known place, the Irish-speaking
people would never have changed its name into the common-
place appellation Mullagh. No doubt the Irish traditions
and language have now died out in the district, but they
had not died out when this name was given to it.
A little farther down the river, on the same southern
bank, is a ridge called Drumbally-Donaghey. Donaghey, if
it be not a family name, might retain traces of Donagh
(i.e. Dominica), and, therefore of the religious functions that
used to be celebrated there. Near to Drumbally-Donaghey is
294 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a pool in the river called ' the boat-hole,' which might be
supposed to correspond with Cabhan-an-Churaidh, but it
is a place where a boat usually was, and even now is
occasionally kept ; so no argument can be drawn from this
in favour of Drumbally-Donaghey. Nor does there seem to
be any reason for selecting any other of the ridges on the
same side of the river.
On the north side of the stream, and just opposite the
Mullagh, is a hill whose form attracts attention whether you
view it when descending the river, that is, coming from
Dungiven to Limavady, or ascending by the same road
which runs along the southern bank of the river. The
name of the hill is Enagh. Enagh is the Irish name still
for a fair. In earlier times it meant a gathering for political
purposes, and in later times an assembly for religious
purposes.1 The name, therefore, suggests that this was the
hill so well known in Colgan's time, which, he says, is
To-day and for ever venerable, especially on account of the many
pilgrimages, and the public religious ceremonies [Theophoriamj,
which, on the festival of All Saints, in memory of the aforesaid synod
there celebrated, is there annually made, with an immense con-
course from all the neighbouring districts.
Drumceat (i.e., the drum or ridge of the pleasant swell-
ing ground), being a commonplace appellation, would easily
give way in the lapse of time to the name Enagh. If you
stand on Enagh, you have the most beautiful view in the
valley of the Roe. Looking northwards you have Lough
Foyle sweeping from Innishowen Head round the lovely
shores of Greencastle, Moville, and Iskaheen, and bounded
from this point of view by the range of hills which culminate
in the ruined-crowned summit of Greman, once known as
' Aileach of the Kings.'
Still looking north, but on this side of the Foyle, you see
to your right the lowlands of Myroe, and Magilligan rising
by swelling ridges like mimic Sierras, till they mount into
the grand romantic ranges of Beneyevenagh, and the Keady.
In fact, you find you are standing on a somewhat insulated
1 See Joyce's Irish Names of Places.
THE CONVENTION OF DRUM-CEAT 295
ridge, which rears itself up one hundred and sixty feet high ,
in a valley stretching north and south, its narrowest part
being that in which you stand, whilst before you it spreads
out into the lowlands of Lough Foyle shores, and on the
south it widens out in the direction of Dungiven, only
turning more to the west. If you examine the rising swells
just near you, you will see the ruins of Drumachose,
St. Canice's Church, crowning one of them ; whilst turning
and looking up the south opening of the valley, you could,
were it not for the intervening groves, see the ruins of
Tamlaght Finlagan, St. Finloch's Church. The Eoe, how-
ever, runs between the two, but there is a very shallow ford
just in the line between them. It is probable that a hill
would be selected, convenient for the clergy of both churches,
and also on the side nearest to the more important church —
the 'Magna Ecclesia de Ko;' and, we might also add, on the
side nearest the county Antrim, for the convenience of those
coming thence to the Convention. On what we have desig-
nated the north bank of the river — the side opposite to the
Mullagh — there is an insulated rock like a huge mile -stone
or finger-post marking out Enagh, and called the 'Boat
Rock.' It is the first you meet on either side when passing
up the river from the Foyle. There is no other, indeed,
for nearly half a mile further up, where the gorges of the
river commence abruptly.
This particular spot is such as would just invite a boat's
crew to land. The juxtaposition of this rock to Enagh
(and from this point the hill looks most picturesque), and
its being on the same side of the river with it, weigh much
with us in deciding in favour of Enagh, not only as against
the Mullagh, but against any other of the hills that rise along
the river. The proximity of Enagh to the Ready (not the
hill, but the townland of that name) seems to us also
an argument in favour of our theory. It is probable that
what we know did occur in many other cases occurred also
in this, viz., that the name Ready, which is now confined
to one townland, once extended over the whole district, and
that the district got that name, perhaps, from this very hill.
When a large townland was divided into two or three smaller
296 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ones, the smaller got what we may term surnames. By
degrees the later, or distinctive name, alone was preserved,
while the original name clung to one of the divisions, and
to that one because the original possessor may have retained
it for himself. Colgan's description suggests to the mind
that the hill was not juxta, but some little distance from the
Roe. It was ' pervicinus,' i.e. quite near. The venerable
man, he tells us, made a slight delay at the place where he
landed, and then ' went to the assembly.' All the other
hills are either too near or too remote to answer this
description. The Mullagh is almost on the brink of the
river. The appearance of Enagh is such as, from most
points of view, would suggest to a Latin writer the deri-
vation for Drumceat of Dorsum Cete, i.e. the back of
a whale. No other hill around would suggest the same.
Enagh agrees in every respect with the description of
Drumceat. It is a ' collis,1 for it is insulated ; and it is at
the same time a ' drum ' or ridge. A ' drum ' is a back-
bone; a spur that a mountain sends out, but more prolonged,
and more easy of slope on its flanks than what we ordinarily
mean when we speak of the spur of a mountain, and
projecting also from a lower elevation of the mountain. It
is not easy to find a place which one person could with pro-
priety call a drum, and another with equal propriety term
a collis ; but it seems to us that both designations are
applicable to Enagh, and to no other of the hills around.
It is ' peramsenus ' whether considered in its own aspect,
or in the delightful prospect it affords. It is 'leniter
acclivis,' which none of the other hills are, and certainly
not the Mullagh. These are the principal arguments that
lead us to adopt Enagh in preference to the Mullagh, and
though there may be but a balance of probabilities in favour
of our theory, still the Mullagh seems to us entirely out of
competition for claiming the ancient title of Drumceat.
The most that can be said of it is, that it is a remarkable
hill near the Eoe, and when we have said this, we have
repeated all that can be said about it.
An interesting tradition in favour of Enagh signifying
a fair, and of a fair having been held there till the
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT '297
time of Donald Ballagh O'Cahan at least, may be worth
preserving in this place. The tradition was received from
Mr. John O'Connor, a native of the locality, who died fifteen
years ago at a very advanced age, and who was regarded as
a depository of all the authentic traditions of the district.
On one occasion O'Cahan, then lord cf the territory, mounted
on a superb horse, and accompanied by his daughters all on horse-
back, visited the fair which was being held at Enagh. As he
entered the place a beggarman solicited him for an alms.
O'Cahan answered him only with a lash of his riding-whip. The
beggarman drew himself up to his full height, and, gazing fixedly at
the cruel and haughty chieftain, pronounced, in tones that struck
terror into the listening crowd : —
' Gar cnoc gan aonac,
Gar Ciannac gan eac.'
Which literally translated means : —
Soon the hill without fair,
Soon Cahan without horse.
Whether the words were uttered as a prophecy or a
curse, their quick and unexpected fulfilment impressed them
indelibly on the minds of the hearers, and made them be
handed down from generation to generation. Enagh then
means a fair, in this instance, just as it meant a place of
religious assembly in Colgan's time.
To sum up the arguments in favour of Enagh, we say,
that after the Mullagh — (1) Enagh is at least the most re-
markable hill ; (2) from its situation the hill likely to be
chosen for the assembly ; (3) answering perfectly to the
description of Drumceat ; (4) retaining (by its neighbour-
hood) traces of the name; (5) by its name indicating a
place of religious concourse; (6) on the same side of the
river, with and near to a remarkable rock standing up out
of the bank, and called the 'Boat Rock,' with no reason that
we can now see for prefixing the term ' boat ' to it ; (7) and
lastly, affording space on its summit for the royal pavilions
and tents, which O'Donnell tells us were scattered over the
hill in the manner of military camps. On the top of the
Mullagh there is no space for the like; Enagh, at least,
is required for this. So much then for the site of this
298 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
famous Convention, a convention which left its mark not
only on that, but also on subsequent ages, and which did
so much for the consolidation and improvement of our
ancient code of laws. We shall now see what were the
principal objects of this great national assembly.
II. OBJECT AND RESULTS OF THE CONVENTION
In his Lectures on the Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Irish,1 Eugene O'Curry sets forth in brief terms
the principal objects for which this great parliament was
held at Drumceat : —
The meeting at Drom Ceata [says he] was the last great
occasion on which the laws and general system of education were
revised. It took place in the year 590, in the reign of that Aedh
the son of Ainmire, whose resistance to the impudent demands of
the profession of poets, I had occasion to refer to in the last
Lecture. Very soon after the refusal of the king to submit to the
threats of satire on the part of the poets, and the consequences
then supposed to follow from poetical incantations, he happened
to be involved in two important political disputes. One of these
was touching the case of Scanlan Mor, king of Ossory, who had
unjustly been made a prisoner by the monarch some time before,
and kept in long and cruel confinement ; the other concerning the
right to the tributes and military service of the Dalriadian
Gsedhelic colony of Scotland, to which king Aedh laid a claim
that was resisted by Aedan Mac Gabhrain, the king of that
country. For the more ample discussion of these weighty matters
Aedh convened a meeting of the states of the nation at
Drom-Ceata [a spot now called Daisy Hill, near Newtown-
limivady, in the modern county of Derry] ; which meeting took
place, according to O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters,
in the year 574.
This great meeting was attended by all the provincial kings,
and by all the chiefs and nobles of the island ; and Aedh invited
over from lona the great patron of his race, St. Colum Cille, to
have the benefit of his wise counsels in the discussion, not only
concerning the special objects for which the meeting was first
intended, but many others of social and political importance.
And so it happened that at this meeting the affairs of the poets
and the profession of teaching were also discussed.
It was solemnly resolved at this meeting that the general
1 Vol. ii., Lect. iv,
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 299
system of education should be revised, and placed upon a more
solid and orderly foundation ; and to this end the following scheme
[according to Keating] was proposed and adopted.
Then follows the scheme referred to.
That St. Columb was not invited by King Aedh to this
meeting is quite certain, and O'Curry corrects his mistake
on this point in a subsequent lecture. ' St. Columcille
having heard of this meeting and its objects,' says he, ' and
being a great patron of literature, came over from his island
home at I, or lona, whither he had retired from the world
to appease the king and the people, and quite unexpectedly
appeared at the meeting. The poets at this time, with
Dalian Forgall as their chief, were collected in all their
numbers in the vicinity of the hill of meeting, anxiously
awaiting their fate ; but their anxiety was soon relieved, as
their able advocate had so much influence with the monarch
and his people to procure a satisfactory termination to the
misunderstanding between them and the priests.'* It was
on this occasion that Dalian Forgall, chief of the Bards,
composed the famous poem in praise of the saint, entitled
'Amhra Chollium Chille,' or ' The Praises of Columb of the
Church,' This poem is still in existence, and is constantly
referred to by O'Curry in his lectures as one of the most
beautiful specimens of ancient Irish poetry.
St. Columba's arrival at the meeting seems to have
been an unpleasant surprise to King Aedh and his household.
The king well knew the powerful influence of the saint, and
naturally feared his opposition ; but as he was his own near
relative, and had come in the interests of peace, he could
not do otherwise than treat the holy Abbot with at least
outward reverence. Not so, however, his spouse. Filled with
jealousy at the veneration manifested toward St. Columb
and his followers, she secretly ordered her son Connall
to insult and maltreat them, an order which he only too faith-
fully executed. In the old Irish Life of St. Columba,
translated by Mr. W. M. Hennessey, and printed as an
1 Vol, iii., Lect. xxxi.
300 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
appendix to the second volume of Skene's Celtic Scotland,
the story is thus narrated : —
They afterwards saw Colum Cille going towards the conven-
tion, and the assembly that was nearest to him was the assembly
of Conall, son of Aedh, son of Ainmire ; and he was a worthy
son of Aedh. As Conall saw them, therefore, he incited the
rabble of the assembly against them, so that threescore men
of them were captured and wounded. Colum Cille inquired,
' Who is he by whom this band has been launched against us ?'
And it was told to him that it was by Conall. And Colum Cille
cursed Conall, until thrice nine bells were rung against him, when
some man said, ' Conall gets bells fclogal,' and it is from this that
he is called 'Conall Clogach." And the cleric deprived him of
kingship, and of his reason and intellect in the space of time that
he would be prostrating his body.
Colum Cille went afterwards to the assembly of Dornhnall,
son of Aedh, son of Ainmire, and Domhnall immediately rose up
before him and bade him welcome, and kissed his cheek, and
put him in his own place. And the cleric left him many blessings,
viz., that he should be fifty years in the sovereignty of Eria, and
be battle-victorious during that time, and that every word he
would say would be fulfilled by him ; that he would be one year
and a half in the illness of which he would die, and would receive
the body of Christ every Sunday during that time.
Of course the story would not be complete without a little
more cursing on the part of the saint, for his ancient
biographers are always crediting him with most extra-
ordinary maledictory powers. The queen, it seems, was
indignant at seeing her son Conall driven mad and deprived
of the right to the throne, and Domhnall, who was only
her stepson, appointed in his place. In her wrath she
nicknamed the saint, calling him ' a crane ' on account of
his tall stature and emaciated form. Colum Cille retorted : —
' Thou hast leave to be a crane,'
Said the cleric furiously.
' As just punishment to thy handmaid,
She'll be a crane along with thee.'
Aedh's wife and her waiting-maid,
Were turned into herons.
They live still, and make complaints,
The two old herons of Druim-Ceata.
Notwithstanding the immortality promised these lady-
herons, their place, alas! knows them no more. The waters
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 301
of the Eoe no longer re-echo their sad lamentations; the
loneliness of Dromceat is no longer disturbed by their
pensive wailings. We think they must have died.
It is not easy to explain this practice of the old Irish bio-
graphers of the saint, representing him as uttering maledic-
tions so frequently, except we understand them as using the
figure oxymoron to a very large extent. The very name he
bears was given him by his young companions from the
dove-like gentleness of his disposition, and indicated the very
opposite of what his mistaken biographers attributed to
him.
One of the objects for which this assembly was convened [says
Dr. Reeves] was to determine the jurisdiction of the Albanian
Dalriada. The question at issue is variously stated. O'Donnellus
would have it that Aiden laid claim to the sovereignty of the Irish
Dalriada, and required that it should be exempt from the rule of
the Irish monarch. Keating and O'Flaherty, on the other hand,
state that the dispute arose from the demand of Aidus, the Irish
king, to receive tribute from the Albanian prince as from the
governor of a colony. They agree, however, as to the decision,
which was that the Irish Dalriada should continue under the
dominion of the king of Ireland, and that the sister kingdom should
be independent, subject to the understanding that either power
should be prepared, when called upon, to assist the other in
virtue of their national affinity.1
It appears pretty clear that the Irish colon}' which had
gone to Scotland from that part of Antrim called Dalriada
(which corresponds, we believe, with the modern district of
the Eoute), were still subject for many years to the Irish
monarchy, just as the American colonies were subject after-
wards to the British crown ; but, when grown strong enough
to throw off the yoke, they determined to assert their inde-
pendence. They refused to be any longer tributary; and
Aedh, the Irish king, feeling the loss to his treasury, as well
as to his prestige, arising from this policy of independence,
resolved to fix upon them irrevocably the law of subjection.
This was the first object he had in view in summoning the
national parliament of Drumceat. We may here remark in
passing that Aedh selected this place for the meeting because
^Antiquities of Down and Connor, Appendix, pp. 321-322.
302 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
it was within his patrimonial territory, where he was
surrounded by friends and faithful clansmen, and where he
was more secure than he would be at the palace of Tara.
Some give him credit for wishing to accommodate his Scotch
friends by selecting a locality convenient for them ; but there
seems to be no foundation for this surmise.
The Dalriadian question first, and the total suppression
of the bards next, were the points to be laid before the
assembly at its opening.
The bards had become at this time simply intolerable.
Their exactions were impoverishing the people, and their
insolence had gone so far as to demand from the king
the Royal Brooch, which was the most highly-prized and
sacred heirloom of the royal family. We may form some
idea of their numbers when we learn that in Meath
and Ulster alone they exceeded at this time one thousand
two hundred. Twice during his reign before this had
Aedh banished them from the precincts of the palace,
and they were obliged to take refuge in Ulidia, a little
principality corresponding to the present county Down.
Now, however, he was determined to utterly exterminate
them. To give some idea of the mode in which the bards
lived upon the people and oppressed them, and the reason
why Aedh was maddened into adopting means to suppress
the order, we will transcribe from O'Curry a brief sketch
of the circumstances: —
At this time [says he] the Fileadh, or poets, it would appear,
became more troublesome and importunate than ever. A singular
custom is recorded to have prevailed among their profession from"
a very early period. They were in the habit of travelling through
the country, as I have already mentioned, in groups or companies,
composed of teachers and pupils, under a single teacher or master.
In these progresses, when they came to a house, the first man of
them that entered began to chant the first verse of a poem, the
last man of the party responded to him, and so the whole poem
was sung, each taking a part in that order. Now each company
of poets had a silver pot, which was called Coire Sainnte, literally
the Pot of Avarice, every pot having nine chains of bronze attached
to it by golden hooks, and it was suspended from the points of
the spears of nine of the company, which were thrust through
the links at the other ends of the chains. The reason — according
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 303
to the account of this custom preserved in the Leabhar Mor Duna
Doighre, called the Leabhar Breac [E.I. A.] — that the pot was
called the 'Pot of Avarice,' was, because that it was into it that
whatever of gold or silver they received was put ; and whilst the
poem was being chanted, the best nine musicians in the company
played music around the pot. This custom was, no doubt, very
picturesque, but the actors in it were capable of showing them-
selves in two different characters, according to the result of their
application. If their Pot of Avarice received the approbation of
the man of the house in gold or silver, a laudatory poem was
written for him ; but if he did not, he was satirized in the most
virulent terms that a copious and highly-expressive language
could supply.
Now, so confident always were the poets in the influence which
their satirical powers had over the actions of the people of all
classes, that, in the year of our Lord 590, a company of them
waited on the monarch Aedh [or Hugh] son of Ainmiret and
threatened to satirize him if he did not give them the Both Croi
itself — the Koyal Brooch — which from the remotest times
descended from monarch to monarch of Erinn, and which is
recorded to have been worn as the chief distinctive emblem of the
legitimate sovereign. Aehd [Hugh], however, had not only the
moral courage to refuse so audacious a demand, but in his indig-
nation he even ordered the banishment of the whole profession
out of the country ; and, in compliance with this order, they
collected in great numbers into Ulidia once more where they
again received a temporary asylum.1
The question, then, of the bards formed the second great
subject which the Convention had to discuss ; and the third
important motion to be brought before the assembly was the
unjust imprisonment of Scanlan Mor, son of the king of
Ossory. These were not, of course, the only points to be
settled. The whole laws of the kingdom were to be revised
and reduced to form, and regulations were to be made to
provide for the education of the people, and to secure for
the professors in the different learned branches a suitable
maintenance. Considering the century in which these
measures were adopted, and their influence on after genera-
tions, it will not seem wonderful that our country acquired
at an early date the proud title of 'Insula Sanctorum et
Doctorum.' Hence King Alfred, about a century after this
1 Manners and Customs, &c., vol. ii., lect. iii.
304 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
parliament, in a poem composed during his banishment in
Ireland, thus wrote :—
I found in each great church,
Whether internal on shore or island,
Learning, wisdom, devotion to God,
Holy welcome and protection.
To St. Columb's defence of the hards at Drumceat may be
justly give the credit of that learning which in after years
made Ireland the lamp of Europe, and her sons the great
evangelists of science and literature in the various lands of
the Continent. On Columb's arrival at the council, king
Aedh proposed to leave to his decision the vexed question of
the Dalriadic tribute, but the saint modestly declined the
honour, thereby reserving to himself the greater liberty
of speech afterwards in opposing what he considered an
unjust imposition. Colman, the saintly bishop of Dromore,
was then called on to expatiate on the question at issue, and
to defend the policy of the Irish monarch. He had been
specially chosen by the clergy as their spokesman, and an
abler at the time did not exist in the Irish Church. But the
lustre of his eloquence paled before the more brilliant powers
of lona's abbot. The fate of a rising colony, and the very
existence of the bardic order hung in the balance, and the
side to which the scale would now incline depended on the
great apostle of Scotland. He was no ordinary man in any
sense of the word. ' Angelic in appearance, elegant in
address, holy in work, with talents of the highest order, and
consummate wisdom,'1 he was well calculated to sway the
councils of princes and prelates, many of whom were of his
own kith and kin.
Both nature and education [says T. D. Magee] had well fitted
Columbkill to the great task of adding another realm to the
empire of Christendom. His princely birth gave him power over
his own proud kindred ; his golden eloquence and glowing verse —
the fragments of which still move and delight the Gaelic
scholar — gave 'him fame and weight in the Christian schools
which had suddenly sprung up in every glen and island. As
prince, he stood on equal terms with princes ; as poet, he was
1 Adamnau, 2nd Preface.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM^CEAT. 305
affiliated to that all-powerful bardic order, before whose awfut
anger kings trembled, and warriors succumbed in superstitious
dread. A spotless soul, a disciplined body, an industry that never
wearied, a courage that never blanched, a sweetness and courtesy
that won all hearts, a tenderness for others that contrasted
strongly with his rigour towards himself — these were the secrets
of success of this eminent missionary — these were the miracles by
which he accomplished the conversion of so many barbarous
tribes and pagan princes. 1
Such was the man on whom now devolved the noble
duty of defending the cause of liberty and learning. Every
eye in that vast assembly was turned upon him as he rose,
and every breath was hushed, till the gentle murmur of
the Koe, as it hastened to the Foyle, was the only sound
that broke the death-like silence. The monarch and his
courtiers alike were awed; princes and prelates became
willing listeners ; nobles and clansmen were swayed by his
eloquence; and the unarmed Abbot from the lonely and
desolate isle in the northern seas became the bloodless
conqueror of the Irish monarch and his mailed followers.
Skilfully blending together the two great questions under
discussion, he dwelt with all the passionate eloquence of his
fiery nature on liberty — God's priceless gift to man — and
learning, which teaches us to use that gift aright. Admitting
that the bards had at times forgotten the rules of moderation,
and forgotten too the fealty and homage due to the sovereign ,
these were faults, he argued, which salutary laws could
easily correct, and which had only arisen from the deficiency
of former legislation. In words to the following effect he
continued : —
Is an entire order to be suppressed for the faults of a few of its
members? and must our annals remain henceforth unwritten,
our valiant men sink to earth unsung, because no tuneful bard
exists to pen the one, or raise the mournful dirge at the grave
of the other ? Vice may then reign triumphant, for no wandering
minstrel will dare to lash it ; virtue may wither and die, for no
learned Ollamh will survive to defend it. All that is sacred in
the past, all that is cherished in the present, all of good that we
hope for in the future, must perish in the common ruin of
genealogists, historians, poets, astronomers, and physicians which
III.
1 His'ory of Ireland, by T. D. Magee.
306 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
is sought to be accomplished to-day. If you would throw back
your country to the darkness, not only of pre-Christian, but of
pre-Druidic times, then suppress the energies of the rising colony
in Argyle, and drive for ever from your shores the learned bards
who have given you the inheritance of literature, and raised your
name for erudition in foreign lands. But, if you would cherish
liberty and learning, if you would secure for yourselves trust-
worthy allies and faithful historians, then break to-day the
shackles that have too long bound your kinsmen in Scotland,
and give to your bards a code of laws that will at once preserve
and restrain them.
The eloquence and reasoning of Columba prevailed.
The colonists were freed from the odious taxation, and a
code of laws was enacted for the proper maintenance of
learned teachers, and of approved schools, and at the same
time for the due restriction of the number and privileges
of the bards : —
It was solemnly resolved at this meeting [says 0 'Curry J that
the general system of education should be revised, and placed
upon a more solemn and orderly foundation; and to this end
the following scheme [according to Keating] was proposed and
adopted. A special ollamh, or doctor in literature was assigned
to the monarch, as well as to each of the provincial kings, chiefs,
and lords of territories ; and to each ollamh were assigned free
lands, from his chief, and a grant of inviolability to his person,
and sanctuary to his lands, from the monarch and the men of
Erinn at large. They ordered also free common-lands for the
purpose of free education in the manner of a university (such as
Masraighe in Breifne, or Breifney-Eath-Ceamaidh in Meath, &c. )
in which education was gratuitously given to such of the men of
Erinn as desired to become learned in history, or in such of the
sciences as were then cultivated in the land. The chief Ollamh of
Erinn at this time was Eochaidh, the Poet Eoyal, who wrote the
celebrated elegy on the death of St. Columcille, and who is better
known under the name of Dalian Forgaill ; and to him the
inauguration and direction of the new colleges were assigned.
Eochaidh appointed presidents to the different provinces. To
Meath he appointed Aedh [or Hugh], the poet ; to Munster he
appointed Urmael, the arch-poet and scholar ; to Connacht he
appointed Seanchan Mac Cuairfertaigh ; to Ulster he appointed
Ferfirb Mac Muiredhaigh ; and so on.
It will have been observed that the endowed educational
establishments placed under these masters were, in fact, National
Literary Colleges, quite distinct from the great literary and
ecclesiastical schools and colleges which, about this time, forming
themselves round individual celebrity, began to cover the land,
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 307
and whose hospitable halls were often [as we know] crowded
with the sons of princes and nobles, and with tutors and pupils
from all parts of Europe, coming over to seek knowledge in a
country then believed to be the most advanced in the civilization
of the age. ... It appears, also, from the Brehon Laws, that the
pupils were often the foster-children of the tutor. The sons of
gentlemen were taught not only literature, but horsemanship,
chess, swimming, and the use of arms, chiefly casting the spear.
Their daughters were taught sewing, cutting or fashioning, and
ornamentation, or embroidery. The sons of the tenant-class were
not taught horsemanship, nor did they wear the same clothes as
the classes above them.
All this has, in the law, distinct reference to public schools,
where the sons of the lower classes waited on the sons of the
upper classes, and received certain benefits [in food, clothes, and
instruction] from them in return. In fact the ' sizarships ' in
our modern colleges appear to be a modified continuation of the
ancient system.1
It would be tedious, and, to most readers, uninteresting
now to enter into all the details of the laws enacted on the
score of education at this assembly. Suffice it to say that
they were such as gave an impetus to learning for ages in our
island, and made the names of Bangor, Moville (Co. Down),
Clonard, and Clonmacnoise more familiar in Europe than
are Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris to-day. But a few of the
traditions and legends connected with St. Columba's coming
to the Convention, and his stay at it, may prove more enter-
taining than a history of the laws enacted on the occasion.
We trust we wont be accounted sceptical if we decline
making an act of faith in all the venerable traditions of that
time, or if we venture to explain some of the reputed miracles
on natural principles. The very fact of so many traditions
existing about St. Columba — absurd and incredible though a
number of them be — goes to prove that he was no ordinary
man, but one whose influence was felt, and whose life far
transcended that of his contemporaries ; for with truth has
Longfellow said : —
The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight ;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
1 Manners and Customs, &c. vol. ii, Lect. iv»
308 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
III. LEGENDS ABOUT COLUMBA — HIS CHARACTER
In A.D. 1532 Manus O'Donnell, chief of Tyrconnell,
compiled a Life of St. Coluinb in the castle of Port-na-tri-
namad, i.e., the 'Port of the Three Enemies,' now called
Lifford, and into this Life he compressed every tale and legend
accessible at the period. Colgan, who translated a great
part of this work of O'Donnell's from Irish into Latin, gravely
reproduced it with the accuracy of a faithful translator in his
Trias Thaumaturga, leaving, of course, to the Tyrconnell
chieftain whatever honour accrued from the collection and
compilation of the Columbian legends. Among these mar-
vellous tales is a description of the saint's voyage from
Scotland to Drumceat, the substance of which we beg to give
in English. After stating that Columba set out with a
retinue of many bishops, forty priests, thirty deacons, fifty
clerics of lower grades, and Aedan, king of the Albanian
Scots, with many chieftains, to attend the Parliament at
Drumceat, he proceeds to tell us of a great tempest, excited
by a ferocious sea-monster, which threatened to submerge
the vessels and their crews. Those on board, in terror and
alarm, begged of the holy man to deliver them from this
monster, but the saint gave them to understand that God
had reserved that honour, not for him, but for St. Senachus,
who dwelt by the distant shores of Lough Erne. Just at
the same moment Senachus, who was engaged in his forge
(for he was a smith) in heating and hammering out iron,
beholding by Divine permission the pressing danger of the
servants of God, rushing forth from his worKshop, flung the
fiery missile aloft into the air. With a precision and velocity
truly wonderful was it borne through the air from the woody
shores of Doire Broscaidh to the ocean, where it fell direct
into the gaping jaws of the furious monster, and, as might
be expected, immediately killed it. In order that all might
know that to St. Senachus was it due that he (St. Columb)
and all in the vessel owed their escape, he prayed that
to whatever shore of Ireland they might reach, there also
might the carcase of the monster whale be driven. His
prayer was granted, for when their barque touched the
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 309
shores of Lough Foyle, there they found the wild beast,
rolled by the waters of the sea, beiore them. Opening its
jaws, they took out the mass of iron, which St. Columba
sent back to its lawful owner, St. Senachus, and out of it
the clever blacksmith manufactured .three bells, which he
bestowed upon three several churches. Whether or not
they were employed to peal the requiem of the slaughtered
whale, and to perpetuate the memory of this successful
mode of harpooning, the legend fails to state; but, to say the
least, it is a wonderful story.
As miraculous events marked the early part of the saint's
voyage, so, according to O'Donnell, did they continue to bless
his entrance into the classic waters of the Foyle. Judging
from pagan as well as from Christian traditions, this river
seems to have been at all times endowed with wonderful
understanding and feelings of commiseration for the dis-
tressed ; for, as of old it rolled in pity a monumental stone
over Feval, the son of Lodan, and even assumed the name of
the hapless youth, so now it rose in reverence to the holy
Abbot, and, gently swelling the scanty stream of the tortuous
Eoe, bore the sacred band in safety to the very spot where
the assembly was -convened. We think, however, that it is
most probable the aid of a miracle was not required in this
instance to enable St. Columb to sail up the Koe. To the
most superficial observer it is evident that Myroe and the
lowlands of Magilligan were at no very remote period part of
Lough Foyle, and that the waters of the Lough came within
an exceedingly short distance of Limavady. In a field about
a quarter of a mile from that town portions of an anchor and
some other remains of a boat were dug up not many years
ago, and the field in which they were found is not much above
the high-water level. The sub-soil is sand, such as is usually
found along shores, and everything about the locality indi-
cates that the whole district has by degrees been rescued from
the waters. The very name — Myroe — points in the same
direction. This word does not — as a modern derivation of it
states — signify the territory or district of the Eoe, for the
word was not originally Magh-Ko, but Murrough or Murragh,
as may be seen in the appendix to Sampson's tiurvey, where
310 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
mention is made of Bally-Murragh. According to Dr. Joyce,
Murragh means a low-lying district, covered at times by
the sea- water — a sea marsh, and this would aptly enough
describe this locality at a period probably much later than
that of the Convention of Drumceat. Now if the Foyle
flowed up to Limavady, or near it, the waters of the Roe
would at high tide be considerably swollen, and consequently
would not be so unnavigable as at present. From its
distant source in Glenshane mountain the Roe is fed by
many tributaries in its course, notably by the 'Burn of the
round Bush,' which rises in Sheskin-na-Mhadaigh, or
'The Dog's Quagmire,' and by the stream from Lig-na-
Peasta, or the 'Pool of the Serpent;' sweeping majestically
past the old church of Dungiven, and the historic tomb
of Cooey-na-Gall, it forms no inconsiderable volume of
water before reaching the locality of Drumceat. If we
suppose this volume checked in its course, and driven back
by the incoming tide at Leim-a-Mhadaigh (Limavady),
' The Dog's Leap,' it will at once be quite intelligible how
the light curraghs of St. Columb and his followers could
with ease sail up the Roe, till they anchored at the memorable
rock, henceforth known as Cabhan-na-Churaidh.
Another circumstance related in an ancient poem ascribed
to St. Molaise, is that St. Columb came blindfolded to
the assembly, and remained so till its close. The reason
assigned for this is that on his banishment, or his voluntary
exile, whichever it was, he had been commanded by bis
confessor never again to look upon the land of his birth, and
that now, when duty compelled him to come, he carried out
to the letter the injunction laid upon him, and came to the
great assembly at Drumceat with a sear-cloth covering his
eyes. This story, though often repeated, seems highly
improbable. If we believe the account of St. Columb's
leaving Ireland to have been the result of an injunction of
St. Molaise, and not the voluntary act of a man burning with
zeal to spread the Gospel, we must regard his return to his
native land as a violation of the spirit, if not of the letter, of
his extraordinary penance. Such an ascetic as Columba was
not likely to be guilty of such a violation. Besides, if he
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 311
remained in Ireland the entire time of the convention, as we
are told he did, and that it lasted for thirteen months, it
would be preposterous to suppose that, he remained blind-
folded for all that time. Moreover, we know that during his
sojourn in lona he visited, three times at least, his Irish
monasteries, and there is no mention of this blindfolding
then. This seems to be one of those idle tales which a
mistaken zeal for his glory has foolishly interwoven with his
history. It has, however, furnished a subject for the poet's
pen, which has been turned to good account. In an ancient
Gaelic poem attributed (but incorrectly) to St. Columb him-
self, and paraphrased most beautifully by Mr. T. D. Sullivan,
the saint, whose longing eyes ever turned westward, fearing
the violation of his penance if he settled in any island from
which Erin could be seen, thus urges his companions to seek
a distant settlement : —
. To oars again, we may not stay,
For, ah ! on ocean's rim I see,
When sunbeams pierce the cloudy day,
From these rude cliffs of Oronsay,
The isle so dear to me.
I may not look upon that shore
However low and dim it lies ;
Dear brothers, ply the sail and oar,
My word is passed — I see no more
That glory of my eyes.
Away o'er calm and angry tides,
Where'er our fragile craft is blown.
Whatever wind or current guides,
Away, away, till ocean hides
The hills of fair Tyrone.
Through Derry's oak-groves angels white
In countless thousands come and go ;
And gleams, as if of God's delight,
Fall calm and clear to mortal sight
IJpon beloved Raphoe.
But fear from Deny, far from Kells,
And fair Raphoe my steps must be ;
The psalm from Durrow's quiet dells,
The tones of Arran's holy bells
Will sound no more for me.
312 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
When the questions of the Dalriadic tribute, and of the
existence of the bardic order had been satisfactorily settled,
St. Columb then undertook to plead the cause of Scanlan Mor,
the captive son of the king of Ossory. But here his eloquence
was fruitless, for Aedh obstinately refused to liberate him.
As usual, O'Donnell simplifies the whole matter by the
introduction of a convenient miracle, which soon unbolts
the doors of Scanlan's prison, which, by the way, was
adjacent to St. Columb's monastery, the Dubh Eegles of
Perry. He tells us that when Aedh refused the request of
the saint, Columba replied, that the Lord would liberate the
prisoner for him. After this he set out for his monastery
at Derry, which was some miles distant from Drumceat ;
and the following night he betook himself to prayer for the
liberation of the captive. Whilst thus engaged, a fearful
tempest, accompanied by peals of thunder, and flashes of
lightning, raged among the camps of the assembly at
Drumceat, and a luminous cloud sent forth brilliant beams
of light, which penetrated the gloom of the prison in which
Scanlan was confined; and then was heard a voice command-
ing the prisoner to go forth from his cell. Scanlan followed
an angel who acted as his guide, and having in a moment
of time, and without any apparent movement, transferred
him from the prison to the monastery at Derry, left him
there and immediately disappeared from sight. Probably
the good Prince of Tyrconnell, at the time he wrote this,
l.ad been reading over the history of St. Peter's liberation
from prison by angelic ministry, and by mistake trans-
ferred the substance of the story into the life of his patron.
Adamnan's account of the matter is simpler, and we will
transcribe it : — l
At the same time, and in the same place [i.e. Drumceat], the
saint wishing to visit Scanlan, son of Colman, went to him where
he was kept in prison by king Aedh, and when he had blessed
him, he comforted him, saying: 'Son, be not sorrowful, but
rather rejoice and be comforted, for king Aedh, who has you a
prisoner, will go out of this world before you, and after some
time of exile you shall reign in your own nation thirty years.
1 Adamnan, Book i., ch. ii.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 313
And again you shall be driven from your kingdom, and shall be
in exile for some days ; after which, called home again by your
people, you shall reign for three short terms,' all of which was fully
accomplished according to the prophecy of the saint : for after
reigning for thirty years, he was expelled, and was in exile for
some space of time, but being invited home again by the people,
he reigned not three years, as he expected, but three months,
after which he immediately died.
He remained captive at Derry until the death of Aedh,
who was killed by Bran Dubh in the battle of Dunbolg
near Baltinglass in the county Wicklow, in 594, or accord-
ing to others, in 598.
One other circumstance in connection with St. Columb's
coming to Drumceat we may be permitted to notice before
closing, and that is the fact of so many bishops following in
his retinue and yielding him obedience. As belonging to
the superior or highest grade of the priesthood, the bishops
would naturally be expected to have the precedence ; but
here that order is reversed, and no less than twenty bishops
follow in the wake of the illustrious abbot with a docility
and submission worthy of novices. This circumstance was
noted and satisfactorily explained by the Venerable Bede,
and still later by Geoffrey Keating, in his History of Ireland,
and by Dr. Coyle, Bishop of Eaphoe, in his Collectanea Sacra,
or Pious Miscellany. In the appendix to his Antiquities of
Down and Connor, Dr. Eeeves gives the substance of these
remarks, and though the question is not of much importance
in our present essay, a portion of Dr. Beeves' explanation may
not be unacceptable to the readers of the I. E. RECORD : —
In the year 590 was convened a council at Drumceat, on the
river Eoe, one great object of which was to arbitrate between the
respective claims of Aidus, king of Ireland, and Aidan, king of
the British Scots, to the kingdom of Dalriada, in Ireland. And
hither Columbkille also came from his monastery at Hy, attended
by a company which is thus described by his contemporary,
Dalian Forgall :—
' Twoscore priests was their number,
Twenty bishops of excellence and worth,
For singing psalms, a practice without blame,
Fifty deacons and thirty students.'
These lines, though written with great poetical licence, are
of undoubted antiquity, and not only illustrate the ancient
frequency of bishops, but confirm what Bede said of the
314 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
subjection of the neighbouring provinces to the Abbot of Hy.
This subjection is satisfactorily accounted for, to use the words
of Bishop Lloyd, by the consideration that : ' Whereas in almost
all other places there were bishops before there were monasteries,
and then it was not lawful to build any monastery without the
leave of the bishop, here at Hy, on the contrary, there was no
Christian before Columba came thither. And when he was come,
and had converted both king and people, they gave him the
island in possession for the building of a monastery ; and withal,
for the maintenance of it, they gave him the royalty of the
neighbouring isles ; six of which are mentioned by Buchanan as
belonging to the monastery. And, therefore, though Columba
found it necessary to have a bishop, and was pleased to give him
a seat in his island, and, perhaps, to put the other isles under his
jurisdiction, yet it is not strange that he thought fit to keep the
royalty still to himself and his successors. It is no more strange
that it should be so there than that it is so now in many places ;
and at Oxford particularly, where a bishop now lives, and is as
well known to be a prelate of the English Church as any other ;
the government in the University exclusively of him ; and not
only the Chancellor and his deputy have precedence of the bishop,
but every private scholar is exempt from his cognizance and
jurisdiction. ' The power of order and jurisdiction, it is to be borne
in mind, are quite distinct. 'A person may be consecrated bishop,
to all intents and purposes as to the power of order without pos-
sessing any jurisdiction. Vice versa, a person of the clerical order
may, although not actually a bishop, be invested with episcopal
jurisdiction. Thus, if he be elected to a see, and regularly con-
firmed, he becomes, prior to his consecration, possessed of the juris-
diction appertaining to said see, and if it be metropolitan, the
suffragan bishops subject to him as if he had been actually
consecrated.'
The latter part of this extract Dr. Reeves gives on the
authority of the learned Dr. Lanigan.
We have dwelt thus in detail on the circumstances, tra-
ditions, and legends connected with the ancient parliament
held on the banks of the Roe, not .so much for their own
sake, as for that of the great assembly with which they are
linked. Our English neighbours, it is true, are wont to scoff
at our boasting of the ancient civilization of our country, and
to turn into ridicule those great men of our land, who are
still fresh in the minds of the people, and
"Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of time ;
but, their sneers notwithstanding, we love to dwell on the
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 315
days of old, and like eagles to gaze upon the sun of glory
which then illumined our island. We feel it an honour to
belong to the race which led the van in evangelizing
and educating the proudest nations of modern Europe ; who
founded schools and universities where the sacred fire of
knowledge was guarded with more than vestal care during
the stormiest periods of Vandal and Gothic barbarism ; who,
when the lamp of learning was extinguished from the Seine
to the Tiber, opened the monastic halls of holy Ireland to the
thousands of students that flocked to her shores. Surely the
land and the age that produced such men as Columbanus,
Virgilius, Fridolin, and a host of others equally celebrated,
are not to be regarded as barbarous. And where in the
history of any country is there a name more dearly or more
deservedly cherished than that of the ' Dove of the Church,'
our own saint Columbkille? No name brings before the
Irish mind more glorious reminiscences than his ; and
whether as a stripling in the paternal halls of Kilmacrenan,
as a youth by the banks of Strangford Lough, in the school
of St. Finnian, or as the great apostle in the lonely and
penitential cell of lona, he is ever to us a model of spotless
purity, of burning fervour, of distinguished wisdom and
prudence, and of a patriotism that, next to his love of God,
consumes his very soul. Thirteen centuries have passed
away since he breathed his last amid his sorrowing monks
in Hy, and yet is he familiarly spoken of by the Irish people
in every region, as if he had lived and moved amongst them
from their childhood. The holy wells, popularly believed to
have been blessed by him; the stones where he knelt in
prayer, and left the sacred impress of his knees; the blessings
or the maledictions uttered by him — what are they all but
mementos — fond, though it may be fanciful — that a grate-
ful race has cherished and nursed for generations regarding
this wonderful man. The tall commanding form, the keen
and flashing eye, the angelic loveliness of the countenance, the
rich melodious voice, the copious and impressive eloquence
which subdued even kings and courts, and swayed the
destinies of nations yet unborn ; the statesmanlike and
highly-cultivated mind — these have all been familiar to us
316 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
from childhood, and are pictures on which fancy has loved to
dwell from our earliest years. Nowhere, however, does the
innate nobleness of his character shine to greater advantage
than at the Convention of Drnmceat,where, in the presence of
hostile kings and mutually jealous clans, he pleaded the cause
of justice, of learning, and of mercy. The princes and the
rulers of the land were there ; the prelates, and priests, and
poets had their respective positions in that assembly; various
feelings and various interests were at work ; but the master-
hand of the Abbot of Ion a blended into one harmonious
whole the conflicting interests of the assembled thousands,
and like another Moses, swayed a people scarcely less
stubborn, and scarcely less fickle, than the tribes of Israel.
If war between the Dalriadian colony and the parent country
were averted, to Columba is the honour due ; if the cause of
learning in the persons of the poets were preserved from
destruction, to the apostle of Scotland must the credit be
given ; and if the fetters of the captive, Scanlan Mor of
Ossory, were not broken, it was not that the fervid eloquence
of Columbkille was wanting, but that the heart of Hugh
was steeled against the inroads of the slightest feelings of
mercy for his prisoner.
What good for future generations the wise counsels
of the saint effected at the Convention we cannot now
sufficiently appreciate ; but we know that it was the
salutary regulations there enacted that made the schools
of Ireland for so many centuries afterwards the light and
glory of Christendom. To Columba was this mainly due,
and to him must every son of Ireland, in ages yet to come,
reverently bow, as the great father and protector of litera-
ture. Though the schools which sprang into existence
about that time are now no more ; though Bangor,
Clonmacnoise, Clonard, Moville, Kells, and Derry, are
stripped of their ancient glories; though the bards who
governed the colleges have, like their schools, long since
passed away ; still the name of him, who pleaded so well
the cause of master and pupil, is written, and for ever
shall be indelibly written, on the hearts of the Irish people.
While the Koe steals down from its distant fountain in
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART 317
Glenshane, and mingles its waters with the turbid Foyle;
while the winter storms beat vainly against the rocky
battlements of Magilligan, and howl in fury round the
summit of the Keady ; while returning spring scatters its
thousand beauties over the broad lands of O'Cahan, and
restores the buds and blossoms to the widowed forests, so
long shall the name of Columbkille be handed down with
benedictions from generation to generation, and the blessings
that his golden eloquence won for the people at the Parlia-
ment of Drumceat, be for ever lauded by the patriot, the
philanthropist, and the scholar.
<% JOHN K. O'DoHERTY.
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART
IN IRELAND, AND SUGGESTIONS AS TO
ITS REVIVAL
'Domine, dilexi, decorem domus tuae.'
IN the present state of art, and especially ecclesiastical
art, in this country, we are living in a most remark-
able period. It may safely be asserted that more churches,
chapels, parochial and conventual buildings have been
erected in Ireland during the last fifty years than during any
corresponding period since the close of the twelfth century.
On every side we see large edifices, costing great sums of
money, rising in cities and towns, and even in small country
villages. It seems now that the moment has come to
review our progress in ecclesiological art as expressed in
these buildings of every degree. I use the word ' ecclesio-
logical ' advisedly, for the knowledge and the practical
application of ecclesiology seems to me to be not only
rarely shown, but to be absolutely wanting in the greater
number of these church buildings, especially in their
interiors, and what ought to be their essential fittings and
318 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
furniture. The study of ecclesiology, in its applied forms,
is utterly neglected ; whereas that of archaeology, as a
popular science, is ardently pursued, whether it relates to
historical or mediaeval buildings, or to the rude structures
and labours of pre-historic periods. Every quarter of
the year produces its own crop of archaeological treatises
on all sorts and conditions of objects of antiquity, possessing
either a historic or artistic value — at least in the eyes of
those who write about them. But as far as ecclesiology,
pure and simple, is concerned, we seldom, if ever, read
any article of interest or instruction, which might serve
to guide us in the difficult task of re-edifying and restoring
all those adjuncts to the services of the Catholic Church,
which were swept away so ruthlessly during the last three
centuries.
No student of our ancient ecclesiastical history can
enter one of the numerous ruined churches in this land
without noticing remains of these adjuncts, such as sedilia,
aumbries, corbels, or holes for the reception and support
of parcloses or screens, and rood beams, along with
(in many cases) spacious porches, chancel-crypts, and the
almost total absence of ' vestries ' from the greater number
of such antique churches and oratories. In this day of
building and restoration, I think it highly advisable that
we should endeavour to get back again those portions
of the sacred edifices of the Church of which we have
been so long deprived, without in the least degree impairing
the usefulness of the buildings as regards the social
needs of modern life and practice. It will not suffice,
however, to stop short at the mere fact of restoring the
buildings; we must try by studying what has been done
around us in other lands, to recover and take up again the
golden traditions of good taste which were abandoned in
the sixteenth century, from two causes : namely, the
destructive influence of the ' New Learning,' as it was then
called (somewhat like the ' New Criticism ' of our days), and
the giving up of Christian models for the Neo-Classical
forms, which were then being so ardently pursued by the
talented architects, artists, and designers of the Benaissance.
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART 319
In looking at the dire effects ot the powerful wave of
classicalism which swept over the minds and thoughts
of European nations, from Italy to the furthest confines
of the north, and even to the newly-discovered lands of
America, we now see how many things that were both
beautiful and true, in harmony with nature, and the genius
ot the different peoples that produced them, were despised,
neglected, and laid aside for the revived so-called pagan
ideals of Greece and Home. I am fully aware that the art
of the middle ages, in its struggle to obtain supremacy over
brute matter — as in its solving of the complex problems
involved in the solution of ' vaulting,' and the ' thrust ' of
vast masses of masonry — ran riot in the luxuriance of the
flamboyant forms of its latter architectural period. Bat
it had this merit, at least, that it was a glorious contest of
human intellect against matter, in struggling to attain to
the perfection of such marvellous creations as we still see
left in an unfinished state, in such magnificent edifices as
the cathedrals of Rouen, Chartres, Bourges, Amiens, and
even our own beautiful specimen of late work in the choir
of Holy- Cross Abbey, county Tipperary.1 Now, in spite of
the terrible stoppages which occurred in all literary or
artistic works in the country after the close of the fourteenth
century, and even previous to that time, I consider that
Irish ecclesiastical art was slowly but gradually advancing
in the way of progress, on sure and certain lines. I have
perceived many traces of this progress, even in the smallest
and least known of the numberless churches and oratories
which cover the face of our country. Take, for instance,
one familiar example, amongst many, which occurs to me
at this moment, in the now ruined and ivy-grown church of
Kilmolash, in the county Waterford, on the banks of the
1 In this choir, which was evidently planned by masons thoroughly
acquainted with the southern European style (having worked in Portugal at
the Abbey of Batalha, under Bishop William Hackett, of Kilkenny, circa
A.D. 1465), there is a ' sedilia ' which — so dense the ignorance respecting such
matters — has been the subject of violent discussions between Irish archaeologists
in past years, some asserting that it was a tomb, others that it was not ; all
seemingly unaware of its being simply the seat for the use of the ministers at
the altar.
320 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Finisk river. In this small but interesting edifice I can
trace the progress of architectural knowledge and taste from
the close of the sixth up to the beginning of the sixteenth
century. Herein I have found decided signs of the
' iconostasis ' cr chancel-screen which separated the sanc-
tuary from the nave, as in the Greek Church even to the
present day ; the aumbries, or deep square receptacles in
the walls near where the altars were placed, and in the
western fa9ade, there is a late pointed doorway, of which
the mouldings are of a distinctly flamboyant type, showing
how the later builders were imbued with the taste then
prevailing in the rest of Europe. I could multiply such
instances.1 My reason for now citing this one, is to
demonstrate how the Irish ecclesiologists and architects
of that day were progressing towards a style which, if it
had not been rudely interrupted by civil and religious
warfare, would have led to a development of architecture
in Ireland, destined to produce works that would have
been, doubtless, a glory to their country.
For, I believe firmly, as the Irish were distinguished not
only as illuminators of manuscripts, and workers in metal,
but also as builders — as witness Cormac's chapel at
Cashel, Kilmalkedar, Aghadoe, and Tuam — long previous to
the Norman invasion, so by their Celtic quickness of intellect
and their intuitive faculty, especially in the domain of art,
they would have attained a high degree of perfection in
constructive and decorative work of every description.
Many persons object to this theory, that all such artistic
forms as are shown in the buildings that I have mentioned,
have been importations from Byzantine and other foreign
sources. Still, admitting that our Irish types had been, in
a great measure, derived from such extraneous sources, I
assert that the Celtic mind had modified, in a most remark-
able degree, the leading characteristics of such imported
models, so as to make them ' racy of the soil,' and full of
1 There is a charming specimen of late work, most probably design*, d and
erected by Bishop Hackett, in the shape of a small pointed arched doorway,
carved in limestone, with profiles admirably adapted to the material, now
standing in the outer wall of Kilkenny cathedral.
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART 321
that quaint beauty which displays itself, to the admiration
of civilized Europe, in the graceful curves of its manuscripts
and of its goldsmiths' works.
In submitting these preliminary remarks to the readers
of the I. E. EECOED, I am desirous of reviving in Ireland,
and especially amongst the clergy and educated laity, the
spirit of research into the past artistic story of our old
churches, leaving aside for the moment their purely historic
and archaeological aspects ; and seeing whether we, in this
day of revival, cannot take hold again of the golden cord of
artistic tradition and of Catholic ritual in its fulness, which
may lead us through the chaotic labyrinth of the mis-
named— in so many cases — ecclesiastical art of the present
day in our land.
Instead of the depressing silence which now broods
over all such studies in this country, I wish to see intelligent
criticism evoked and used fearlessly and pitilessly as regards
all the buildings, furniture, and other objects employed in
the services of the Church. Public interest must be
awakened to the absolute necessity of restoring the art
forms which were thrown aside at an unfortunate period,
and which drifted away from men's memories, during
the dark days of wars, rebellions, and penal laws which
so long prevailed in this unhappy island. We see our
neighbours, in England as well as in Belgium, fully
awake to the consciousness that the ' talking about,'
and the ' writing on ' ecclesiology, as a sort of pseudo-
science, does not avail much in a practical way in these
practical days ; but that the results of the investigations
and the knowledge acquired during this last half century,
must be brought to bear on artistic productions, for the use
of the Church in our times.
We are too near the twentieth century to be any
longer producing merely ' correct ' copies of ' correct '
churches and cathedrals, a la Pugin type. Without
pursuing the ' Will-o'-the-Wisp ' idea of a bran-new
architectural style, our English and Belgian ecclesiological
friends are beginning to discover by degrees that a real
architectural style is being developed out of the elements of
VOL. in. x
322 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
preceding centuries, which show that it is a worthy product
of these latter days, and is admirably adapted to the needs
of the present time, as we see in the works of learned
ecclesiologists, such as the late John Sedding, Pearson,
Bodely, Caroe, Delacenserie, Bethune, and many more of the
band of gallant workers who with hand and brain, pencil and
pen, hammer and chisel, are delivering us from the thraldom
of the cold, cast-iron forms, and inept traditions which still
prevail throughout Ireland, in all their ' out-of-date,' and
painfully ' correct ' reproductions of the thirteenth century
Cistercian churches, and Hiberno-Lombardic chapels, mostly
all derived from French sources, without the slightest attempt
to show that the buildings belong to the present day, and
are not merely clever archgeological puzzles, to be both
wondered and smiled at by succeeding generations of
educated Irish people.
I shall endeavour, if I receive the hospitality of the pages
of the I. E. RECORD, to show what a pressing need there is for
a diffusion of ecclesiological knowledge among the clergy and
laity of Ireland, and especially for the practical teaching of
such knowledge in colleges and seminaries, as has been
organized for more than thirty years past by the well-known
Professor Reusens, in the Catholic University of Louvain,
of which course a most admirable resume has lately been
published.
MICHAEL J. C. BUCKLEY, M.E. S.A.I.
323
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY
IV.
fT! HE storms that swept over the Irish Church in the
J_ course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries should,
humanly speaking, have destroyed every vestige of the ancient
faith in the land. Bishops were proscribed and banished,
priests were hunted, altars overthrown, and on their ruins
another cultus had been raised which, in any other country,
might have become in popular esteem the national religion.
There seemed no hope left for the faith of our fathers. The
prelates were gone ; the ministry of the priests who stayed
with their stricken flocks was accomplished only at the cost
of a heroism which could never be the normal condition of
any Church ; and for the future there appeared but little
chance that with the years better things might come. Irish
politics at this juncture had become hopelessly Anglicized,
and the fortunes of the country no longer rested on ' native
swords and native ranks,' but found their only support in the
precarious honour of a royal house which certainly does not
live in history for its fealty to principle or friends. So that
the actual state of the Church in Ireland, bad as it was, yet
might have issued in a condition of things still worse, if some
plan had not been found to fill up the decimated ranks of the
clergy by others who were able to hand on unquenched to
another generation the flickering lamp of the national faith.
In point of fact, this work was done, and well done ; and
nothing in our annals more splendidly attests the superb
tenacity of the national conscience to the Catholic faith
than the army of youths who for over a hundred years had
sought in foreign lands the training and the learning needed
in every age for those who should bear the burden of the
Christian priesthood. They left home at a tender age, ran
all the risks of travel by sea and land, at that time infested
by the enemies of their mission abroad ; and all this that
they might be buried, in the flower of their age, in an
324 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
obscure corner of some foreign city, and so grow worthy of
their future work, whose highest crown would be martyr-
dom, and which, in any event, was sure to be accompanied
in its course by every species of privation and suffering. I
think this picture has no counterpart in history, and enough
has scarcely been done to put it in its right relief before the
students of our national annals. Travelling was not then
the luxury it has since become ; the mystery of time and
distance had not then been solved as it has been for us ; and
the weary vigils of our scholars abroad, in the eighteenth
century, had little of the solace which very easily comes to
modern exiles. They were cut off absolutely from their
people, and every day might easily have imagined that ruin
had, at length, reached their homes through the incidence
of the incessant wars and persecutions of the time. This
alone must have been a terrible accompaniment to the years
of study and prayer which should elapse before they too
might take part in the struggle, and taste all the bitter
fortunes of war. One cannot imagine any human motive
for this voluntary torture. It could not be love of letters,
for these might be had at home at a certain price ; nor mere
love of country, for this would hardly place them in a
position so little likely to further state interests ; so that we
are compelled to hold that perfect loyalty to God and His
Church alone explains the generous sacrifice of home, and
youth, and pleasure made by so many Irishmen in the past,
in order that they might prepare their hearts and minds for
the duty of ministering, in dark and evil days, to the
spiritual needs of their suffering -country.
It renders the history of the Irish exiles in Brittany still
more interesting, and fully typical of the times, that a
seminary for their use was established at Nantes, whose
constitutions and various fortunes can be fully followed
from its earliest moments to its final close. It will be the
scope of this chapter to deal with this foundation, and,
happily, I have under my hands the documents necessary to
sustain the narrative.
I had not been in Nantes but one day when I heard of the
Rue des Irlandais, and of the buildings that still evidence
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 325
the presence of our countrymen in the city. This fact first
suggested to me the idea of compiling these notes, and
awakened my interest in gathering the details of the Irish
colony here. The site of the seminary is still occupied by
a noble pile of buildings, some of which were in actual
possession of the exiles, while others have been since added,
and now serve for municipal uses. What remains of the
older buildings is marked by a very beautiful, if severe, style
of architecture, and the halls and refectory witness to the
elaborate scale of the foundation. The new section is a
superb structure, crowned by a square tower, which goes by
the name of ' La Tour des Irlandais,' and admirably serves
to perpetuate the memory of those whose residence there gave
a peculiar mark to the neighbourhood. It is of interest to
know that the Irish museum, now kept in another part of
the city, will eventually rest within these buildings, and
so permanently unite all the evidence which proves the
presence of Irish footsteps in the historic strata of Nantes.
The first form of this foundation was rather that of an
hospice than of a seminary. The necessity for such an
institution arose from the peculiar circumstances which
arose towards the close of the seventeenth century, when
Nantes was crowded by numbers of Irish ecclesiastics,
without employment and without means. In the course of
time some were enabled to undertake ministerial functions,
and became more or less incorporated with the diocesan
clergy ; others, however, were not so happily circumstanced,
and became a source of anxiety to the authorities. It is
said that some of them laid aside the ecclesiastical dress,
and sought their livelihood in purely secular pursuits. I
have no means to determine what proportion of the exiled
priests fell so far below the level of their state of life, but I
believe it cannot have been very large. The greater number
either assisted the local clergy or else opened schools, and
so solved the most urgent problem of life. It is said that
these schools were not notably successful. They had often
to open their doors to students who had been rejected from
other academies, and this element did not raise the tone
either of study or discipline. At length the disorder became
326 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
so extreme that the University 1 intervened, and revoked the
licence for teaching, so that the exiles were once more with-
out occupation, and the diocese face to face with the problem
of making provision for their needs. At this crisis the
authorities determined that the best and only means of
meeting the difficulties of the situation was the establish-
ment of a hospice, where the Irish priests might enjoy the
security of community life, and where responsible superiors
could exact discipline, and enforce a rule whose sanction
would be immediate and personal.
This community was founded by the Rev. Dr. Ambrose
Madden, of the diocese of Clonfert, and the Eev. Dr. Edward
Flannery, of Waterford.2 Its first quarters were in the Rue
de la Paume, now the Rue du Chapeau-Rouge,3 and here the
society remained for about five years. The date of the
foundation was about 1689, when the Irish element was
very strong in the city owing to the arrival of the Jacobites,
who sought in great numbers asj'lum in France after the
defeat of their cause. Their stay in this place extended
over five years, and as far as I can gather was not marked
by any incident of note. At the close of this period an
opportunity of better quarters was given them by the vaca-
tion of the Manoir de la Touche by the religious congregation
who had been some time in residence there, and to this
noble residence the exiles passed in 1694. This good fortune
came to them through the generosity of the Bishop of
Nantes, Monseigneur Gilles de Beauveau, who showed
himself peculiarly favourable to our countrymen. Their
new bouse was a place of distinguished souvenirs, and had
been occupied by the dukes of Brittany.4 Later on it
served as the episcopal palace5 for a lengthened period. Its
position is one of the best in the city, as it is high up the
slope from the river on which the city is mainly built, and
it touches the very heart of the most populous quarters. A
1 Instruct ion publique. Par L. Maitre, p. 167.
2 Sir James Ware, Antiquities, vol. ii., p. 255.
* Guimar, Annales, p. 476 .
* Jean v y etait mort, le mercredi 29 aout, 1442, Ogee. Diet, de Bretngne.
•* Archives du Chapitre.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 327
fine garden is attached to the property, and this rendered it
still more suitable for the purposes of a seminary. There is
no question that if the city was searched, even now, a more
desirable site could hardly be found ; and so the exiles had
one more solid reason to bless the generosity of their
princely benefactors.
The contract between the Irish priests and the bishop
was signed on May 5, 1695 ; but the consent of the Chapter
was not given until January 23, 1697. The document in
which the canons consented to the transfer is worth giving
here, as it shows quite a sharp business spirit, and clearly
describes the condition of the property : —
Messieurs Barrin, chantre, et Daniel, tous deux chanoines,
deputes pour voir les batiments de la maison du bois de la Touche,
et les espaces de terre que Mons. 1'Eveque de Nantes a affeages a
la communante des prestres hibernois, etablie en cette ville,
ont fait rapport que par 1'information qu'ils ont fait, sur les lieux,
ils ont connu que lesdites choses affeages ne valloient de revenu
annuel que la somme de cent cinquante livres portee par 1'acte
d'affeagement, que lesdits prestres hibernois se sont oblig6 de
payer, par an, de rente feodale. Outre que les batiments sont
sujets a de grosses reparations qui en doivent notablement dimi-
nuer le prix, desquelles ladite communante les doit entretenir ;
mesme y pourra faire des augmentations ; qu'ainsi ledit affeage-
ment est profitable audit Seigneur Evesque et a ses successeurs.
Apres quoy, le chapitre deliberant a consenti pour son interest
que ledit afleagement subsiste en la forme et teneur de 1'acte
rapporte par Pesneau et Alexandre, Notaires Koyaux, le 5e Mars,
1697.
Mercredy, 23 Janvier, 1697.1
The work of reparation was at once begun, and such
disposition of the manoir was made as rendered it suitable
to its new occupants. Sir James Ware 2 tells us that the
chapel was restored, and gives as a particular fact, that a
statue of St. Gabriel, to whom it was dedicated, was placed
over the high altar. He further states, that the archangel
was represented with his wings outspread over the figure of
a youth ; and in this we may see the symbol of the objects
of the foundation.
1 Archives du Chapitre de Nantes.
-Antiquities, vol. ii.( p. 255.
328 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Such was the material structure that should give asylum
to the outcast priests. One should have said that those for
whom it was established would have taken the shortest
route to its hospitable doors, and eagerly entered into the
possession of a calm and regular life. Will it be believed
that it turned out quite otherwise? The house was open
and ready, but the guests were in no haste to come. Some,
whose love of study and observance made a life of routine
and work a source of delight, eagerly accepted the proffered
hospitality ; but they were comparatively few. The greater
number, who were probably among those who had felt ' the
weight of too much liberty,' were in no haste to narrow
themselves to this ' scanty plot of ground,' and, resisting all
ordinances and inducements, somehow managed to continue
a life which must have been, at times, a heavy burden to
carry. Owing to these causes the hospice had at first but
little success, and a quarter of a century had passed before
the community could be said to be seriously established.
This was at last effected through the vigorous action of the
bishop, who put an end to what seems to have been a period
of license and disorder by the issue, in 1725, of the following
ordinance : —
Christopher-Louis Turpin Crisse de Sausay par le misericorde
le Dieu . . • . :\ tous les Doyens, Eecteurs, Cures ou Vicaires de
notre diocese, Salut et Benediction.
II nous a ete represented que plusieurs pretres et ecclesiastiques
Irlandois, ne demeurent pas dans la communaute qui a ete etablie
pour les former aux fonctions de leur ministere ; et se privent
ainsi des avantages que nos Predecesseurs ont eu dessein de leur
procurer par un si sage erection ; et que, par une suite comme
necessaire, ils se trouvent exposes a tous les dangers qui sont
inseparables de la dissipation et de 1'oisivete.
C'est pour y remedier efficacement que nous avons resolu de
les rassembler en communante, et que nous allons incessamment
donner nos ordres pour 1'arrangement de la maison qui leur est
destines et leur procurer une honnete subsistance. Nous esperons
que la p iet£ des Eideles qui vous aident si liberalement dans les
autres osuvres de charite, nous secondera dans celle-ci, d'autant
plus volontiers qu'il ne s'agit pas seulement de pourvoir aux
besoins des ministres de Jesus-Christ, mais encore a ceux de
1'eglise ; puisque ces Pretres instruits par nos soins des devoirs
de leur etat et affermis dans les pratiques, les maximes et les
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 329
principes de notre sainte religion, seront en etat, lorsqu'ils sont
rapelles dans leur Patrie d'y confirmer dans la foi ceux de leurs
Freres qui ont ete assez heureux pour la conserver dans sa
purete ; et de faire rentrer dans le sein de 1'eglise Eomaine ceux
que ,le schisme et l'H6resie en ont retranche.t
A ces causes Nous ordonnons.
1. A tous les Pretres et Ecclesiastiques Seculiers Irlandois
qui sont, on qui seront dans la suite, dans notre diocese de ne
faire leur demeure ailleurs que dans la maison que leur est des-
tinee et s'y retirer au plus tard au premier Janvier prochain.
2. Leur defendons, sous peine de suspense encourue par le
seul f ait, de dire la Messe dans notre diocese ni d'exercer aucunes
fonctions de leurs ordres, ledit jour passe, sans une permission
par ecrit de nous, ou de nos Grands-Vicaires.
3. Declarons que nous n'accorderons ladite permission qu'a
ceux qui demeureront dans ladite communaute et qui nous rapor-
teront un certificat de capacite et de bonne conduite du Prefet
que nous avons etabli pour le Gouverner ; lequel nous chargeons
de faire observer le re'glement que nous avons dresse pour le bon
ordre de cette maison, sans qu'il lui soit permis d'y rien changer
que de notre consentement.
4. Voulons que les permissions que Nous leur accorderons
pour dire la Messe dans la chapelle dite de Bon-Secours ou autres
eglises ou chapelles de notre Diocese, ne puisse valoir que pour
six mois ; lequel temps expire leur defendons sous les memes
peines de suspense ipso facto de s'en servir, qu'ils n'en ayent
obtenude Nous la renovation, en Nous representant une nouvelle
attestation du Prefet.
5. Leur defendons de quitter ladite communaute pour servir
dans les paroisses ou chapelles domestiques sans une permission
par ecrit dudit Prefet, qui ne s'accordera que rarement et pour un
mois tout au plus.
From the three following sections of this severe regula-
tion we learn that other foreign ecclesiastics lived in Nantes
at this period, for whom special ordinances had also to be
made. As their affairs do not come within our scope, we
pass on to the paragraphs that affect the affairs of our
people :—
9. Kevoquons toutes les permissions de dire la Messe qui
auroient ete ci-devant accordees ausdits Pretres Irlandois, ou
autres etrangers et leur defendons sous les memes peines de s'en
servir, ledit terme premier Janvier expire.
1 From this passage it is evident that the foundation was essentially a
seminary where provision was made for the training of Irish missionaries for
home work.
330 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
10. A 1'egard des Pretres etrangers, meme les Irlandois qui
viendront a 1'avenir dans notre Diocese, nous accordons huit jours
u ceux qui ne retireront pas 1'honoraire de leur Messe, pendant
lequel temps ils pourront dire la Messe dans notre Diocese ; et le
sudit terme expire, leur defendons, sous la meme peine de la
cele'brer, sans notre permission ou celle de nos Grands-
Yicaires.
11. Nous n'entendons neanmoins comprendre dans notre
presente ordonnance, les Pretres Etrangers, meme les Irlandois
qui auroient quelque titre ecclesiastique dans notre Diocese, ou
quelque emploi, approuve de nous ou qui demeureroient dans
Notre Grand et petit Seminaire.
Enjoignons i\ Notre Promoteur de tenir la main a 1'execution
de notre presente Ordonnance que nous voulons etre lue et
publie'e aux Prones des Paroisses et affichee daus les Sacristies,
et partout ou besoin sera, afin que personne n'en ignore.
Donne a Nantes, dans notre Palais Episcopal, ce 29 Novembre
1725.
(Signe) f^f CHBISTOPHE-I/EVEQUE DE NANTES.
Par Em. de Mgr. :
M. BBULE, pretre, Ch. Sec.1
We are assured that this ordinance was carried out in all
its [details by the authorities of the diocese. First of all,
the building was set in order, and rendered suitable for the
reception of a large number of occupants. The resources
needed for this work were, no doubt, in some degree, supplied
by the generosity of the faithful, to whom the bishop had
made such a strong appeal ; but in some measure, at least,
the expenses were also defrayed by funds in the possession
of the exiles themselves, as we find testified in a contempo-
rary document.2 In 1727-1728 new buildings were added,
and the whole seemed a large and commodious establish-
ment. We are told that the seminary contained a common-
room, lecture-rooms for the classes in theology and philo-
sophy, a refectory, with ten tables ; four apartments for
the professors, and seventy-two cells for the students.
1 Statitts et ord. de Mgr. Tttrpin, I74o. p. 14o.
2 Decf. liens du Cler/je, n. 7, Nantes.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 331
From this it will be seen that, at length, the Irish
seminary in Nantes was well under way and satisfactorily
equipped, at least materially, for its beneficent and patriotic
mission.
The years immediately following were not marked by
any incident of note ; indeed, they have left, so far as I can
gather, absolutely no trace of themselves upon the records
of the time. This, however, should not occasion surprise ;
as the very nature of the foundation, in its initial stages,
should lead us to expect a very quiet and hum-drum
character in all its affairs. It was simply a rendezvous for
the poor exiled priests, whose principal concern must have
been to find the means to sustain themselves in their new
home. It would be unreasonable to look for intellectual
output from such a society of worn-out veterans, whose
enthusiasm for study and literary pursuits can hardly have
survived the stress of the careers they had hitherto been
forced to follow. The fact is that no work of any kind
remains to give a clue to their character or talents ; there is
no list even of those who came into residence after the
bishop's mandate ; and for twenty years absolute silence
broods over the history of the place.
Towards the year 1745 the Annuaire of the diocese
begins to give evidence of the presence of Irish priests in
Nantes. In the list of university doctors there occurs, in
that year, the unmistakable Irish patronymic, Donnellan,
which appears again in 1748. In 1751 he is mentioned
among the officials of the diocese as Promoter and Doctor
in the Faculty of Theology, and with him the singular
name of Hargadane (?), who is credited with being Vicar-
General of Tuam, in Ireland. In this year also I find the
name Mac-hugo, who is given as belonging to the Irish
foundation. In 1752 these three names again occur. In 1755
the superior of the Irish foundation is given as M. O'Byrne,
Doctor of the University, and with him the above-named
Hargadane and Mac-hugo. This community remained
unchanged for four years, when the name Salver is added,
with the quality of Professor of the Faculty of the
seminary. These officials continued in office during 1760,
332 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
1761-1764, but in 1765 Salver was withdrawn. In 1760
the names are given in this order : —
Sup. M. DANIEL 0' BYRNE, University Doctor.
M. DOYHEMIARD (?), Treasurer of the Cathedral, Protonotary
Apostolic.
Univ. Docteurs : MAC-HUGO.
O'LOGHLIN.
SHERMANT.
This year marks an epoch in the annals of the house,
and deserves special mention, for within it was conceded
the charter by which the foundation became a seminary,
and was entitled by law to receive students for the Irish
mission. The royal letters by which this favour were con-
ceded were granted at the prayer of Father Daniel Byrne,
who had been superior from 1755. It would appear from
this interesting document that a strong community was for
some time in residence at the Manoir de la Touche, and
that the immediate reason for demanding the legal status of
a seminary was the distance of the house from the diocesan
seminary, where evidently studies had hitherto been pursued,
and the consequent necessity of having a teaching faculty in
residence. It would further seem that the corporate capacity
of the institution had not had complete legal acceptance,
and needed a royal charter to have the legal right to accept
legacies and donations. All these favours were granted by
the King, in letters dated 1765, and given at Fontainbleau
in the fifty-first year of his reign. It would serve no useful
purpose to cite them at their full length ; but some extracts
may be of interest, as they illustrate the position of the
seminary, and also give us an idea of how such things were
done in the France of that day.
The opening sentence puts us au courant with the state
of the seminary at that time : —
Louis, par le grace de Dieu, roy de France et de Navarre, a
tous presens et a venir, salut : notre trer cher et bien-aime le
pere Daniel Byrne prestre superieur du Seminaire irlandais de la
ville de Nantes nous a fait representer que le feu roy, Louis XIV.
notre tres-honore seiyneur et bis aieul aurait autorise 1'etablisse-
ment des prestres irlandais dans plusieurs villes de notre royaume
et leur avait donne des maisons et differents bien fonds pour
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY, 333
pouvoir s'y soutenir ; que plusieurs prestres de la meme maison
persecutes dans leur parrie a cause de la religion Catholique se
seraient refugies a Nantes en 1'annee 1695 et eauraient ete recus
par les, evesques de cette ville dans une maison nommee bois de la
Touche et dependente de 1'eveche de Nantes, que ladite maison
ou ces prestres ont vecu dabord en communaute a ete erigee
eusuite en seminaire ou ils sont actuellement pres de soixante ; que
leurs principales fonctions consistent dans la desserte de plusieurs
paroisses ou ils exercent avec beaucoup de zele les fonctions du
St. Ministere ; qu'ils sont encore employes en qualite d'aumoniers
dans les hospitaux, sur nos vaisseaux, sur ceux de la compagnie
des Indes, et sur les navires marchands ; mais comme leur etab-
lissement n'a pas ete par nous encore autorise et par cette raison
il n'a pu jusqu'ji present estre pourvu a sa dotation, 1'exposant
nous a fait tres humblement fait supplier de vouloir bien approuver
et confirmer par lettres patentes ledit seminaire, ensemble de lui
permettre de recevoir et d'acquerir par dons, legs et donatives, etc.
From this it would appear that the authorization
hitherto given was purely local, and came altogether from
the bishops of Nantes. It would also seem to follow, from
the words cited, that the students and priests came to
France, not with the intention of returning home after their
ordination, but with the purpose of permanently settling
down in the ministry abroad. This is a point worth noting,
especially in reference to the further disposition now made
by the King, and more clearly still stated by the local
authorities. The letter goes .on to say : —
(Nous) Permettons en outre au dit sieur evesque de Nantes de
faire del reglement qu'il jugera convenable tant pour le spirituel
que pour le temporel dudit seminaire ou la philosophic de meme
que la theologie pourra estre enseignee par des professeurs de la
nation irlandaise, accordons a cet effet aux etudiants la faculte de
prendre leurs degres dans 1'universite de Nantes en subissant les
examens et soutenant les theses ordinaires, sans toutefois que
nos presentes lettres puissent prejudicier ou porter atteinte aux
droits des evesques de Nantes et a ceux de Tuniversite de la dite
ville.
From these passages we may gather that the national
character of the foundation became more emphasized, as it
is laid down as a condition that the professors be of Irish
birth, in view evidently of the real scope of the College,
which was to prepare priests for the work of the sanctuary
334 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
in Ireland. By this document, too, we learn that the juris-
diction of the Bishops of Nantes was supreme in the
community, and consequently to them we must trace the
selection of the superiors and the appointment of the staff.
In this the seminary differed from all such establishments
now in existence, whose affairs, I believe, are invariably
directed by the hierarchy at home.
Before the privileges conceded by the King could be
actually enjoyed, the letters patent had to be submitted to
the local authorities ; the permission of the University had
to be obtained for the institution of the new teaching
faculty ; and ultimately the Breton Parliament had to
sanction the whole proceeding. From the action of the
University authorities we can see how extensive their powers
were. They would seem to have not alone the right to rule
their institute proper, but to have had territorial jurisdiction
with respect to all educational work. They took the question
of the Irish seminary into consideration at a meeting held
in Nantes, on May 20, 1766, and laid down with great preci-
sion the conditions which should qualify the powers granted
by the royal authority. First of all, they lay down that no
derogation of the rights of their corporation can be per-
mitted, for to them, they hold, ' the care and supervision of
studies have been confided by the laws of Church and
State.'1 Then they proceed to determine exactly the
character and nationality of those who should be members
of the new school, and accord the right of affiliation only
to students of Irish birth who wish to prepare for the Irish
mission, and who are bound to return home on the comple-
tion of their studies.2 For such they permit that —
The school which is to be established in the community of
Irish priests, situated in the parish of St. Nicholas, in the city of
*Sans qu'il soil neanmoins porte aucune atteinte aux droits de ladite
universite a qui le soin et 1'inspection des etudes sont speciallement confiees
par les loin de I'eglise et de 1'etat. (Registres des deliberations de F university dc
Nantes.}
2 L1 universite voulant, d'un costs, procurer aux prestres Irlandais la
facultd de s'instruire et de s'acquerir les connoisances qui puissent les mettre
en etat de travailles dans la suite au progres de la religion catholique dans leur
patrie en laquelle ils sont tenus de retourncr aussi tost apres leurs etudes
(Registres des deliberations de Funiversite de Mantes, 20 Mai, 1766.)
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 335
Nantes, should become a school of the University, with the view
of granting to the students of philosophy and theology the right
of taking the degrees of the University.1
These concessions were, however, qualified by the
following conditions, which go to show how rigid was the
supervision of schools at this period, and how jealous the
corporations of the learned were of giving others any part
in their prerogatives. The extract is, I fear, somewhat
long, but it will interest all who are concerned with the
history of educational methods.
In the University registers already quoted I find the
following regulations : —
A I'effet que les etudians de ladite ecole tant de philosophic
que de theologie puissent prendre des grades dans ladite universite
aux conditions suivantes :
PBIMO
Ladite ecole tant de philosophic que de theologie ne sera que
pour les seuls ecclesiastiques venus d'Irlande et des isles Britani-
ques en France pour y faire leurs etudes et demeurant dans ladite
communaute sans qu' aucuns externes de quelque pays, nom ou
qualite qu'ils soient, meme Irlandais, puissent prendre des lemons
dans ladite ecole.
SECUNDO
Leurs deux professeurs de philosophie et' de theologie de la
dite ecole se feront recevoir maitres es arts, en subissant les
examens ordinaires avant de commencer leurs lecons, et ils presen-
teront leurs lettres de maitres es arts et leurs mandements de
professeurs a la faculte des arts que le doyen fera assembler a
cet effet, indiquant aux dits professeurs le jour et 1'heure de
ladite assemblee.
TEKTIO
Les professeurs de theologie qui ne peuvent pas etre plus de
deux a la fois seront au moins Bacheliers en theologie avant de
commencer le cours de leurs leQons ; ils seront tenus en outre de
prendre le bonnet de docteur en theologie dans ladite universite
au moins dans 1'espace de trois annees, en sontenant les theses et
autres actes que les bacheliers ordinaires sont obligees de soutenir
sans que leurs qualites de professeurs puissent les en exempter ;
et ils presenteront a la faculte de theologie la mandement qu'ils
auront eu de leur superieur pour professor suivant 1'usage des
autres professeurs de theologie.
1 Eegistres des deliberations de ^universite de Nantes,
336 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
QUARTO
Les dits professeurs de philosophie et de theologie commence-
ront leurs cours de Ie9ons a 1'ouverture des ecoles de 1'universite
et ils ne finiront pas avant la cloture des cours academiques de
ladite universite ; les dits professeurs donneront aux sindics des
facultes de philosophie et de theologie a 1'ouverture des ecoles les
noms de leurs ecoliers,
QUINTO
Les dits professeurs de theologie et de philosophie auront soin
de faire soutenir, chaque annee au moins, a quelq'un de leurs
ecoliers des actes et theses publiques en leur maison et commu-
naute ; et ils seront tenus de faire examiner et indiquer leurs
theses encore bien qu'elles ne soient pas destinees a 1'impres-
sion, scavoir, les theses de philosophie par le sindic de la faculte
des arts et leurs theses de theologie par le sindic de la faculte
de theologie, suivant 1'usage et 1'arrest de la cour du vingt-deux
aoust mil sept cent cinquante neuf ; et les professeurs avant de
soutenir se presenteront devant le Eecteur de 1'universite pour
qu'il leur prescrive le jour et heure convenable des theses,
afin que le dit sieur Becteur y assiste si bon lui semble conforme-
ment audit arrest ; les dits actes et theses s'ils sont imprimes
le seront par Fimprimeur de 1'universite.
SEXTO
A chaque prima mensis d'aoust les dits professeurs se presen-
teront a la faculte de theologie suivant 1'usage des autres profes-
seurs pour lui indiquer les traittes qu'ils se proposeront de donner
a leurs ecoliers dans le cour de 1'annee suivante, et la faculte
veillera a ce qu'ils enseignent a leurs dits ecoliers les traittes et
matieres les plus utilles et les plus convenables ; et pour qui^est
de la philosophie les professeurs enseigneront a leurs ecoliers les
differentes parties de la philosophie suivant 1'usage dans le cours
des deux annees.
SEPTIMO
Les dits professeurs de theologie enseigneront a leurs ecoliers
les quatre propositions du clerge de France de mil six cent quatre
vingt deux et les leur feront soutenir dans les theses suivant que les
matieres les demanderont, et ceux de leurs e'coliers qui voudront
prendre des grades en la faculte de theologie seront de soutenir
obliges leurs actes pour les dits grades dans la salle ordinaire de la
faculte.1
1 This article shows what a high price our students paid for the privileges
accorded to them. We may easily imagine that the sturdy Irish faith of many
of them revolted against the doctrine they found themselves forced to defend.
This article is of further interest to those who study the history and develop-
ment of theology in the Irish Church, and gives a clue to some peculiar
opinions held by some Irish Churchmen far into the course of the present
century.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 337
OCTAVO
Les ecoliers qui apres leurs cours de philosophie voudront se
faire receiver maitres es arts se presenteront a la faculte des arts
pour estre examines comme le|sont les etudiants de la philo-
sophie, apres quoi ils assisteront a 1'inauguration solennelle de la
Magdeleine pour y recevoir le bonnet de maitre es art suivant
1'usage
NONO
En quelque nombre que soient les docteurs Irlandais Anglais
ou Ecossais en la faculte de theologie, il ny aura jamais que les
deux professeurs en theologie et exerceant actuellement et recus
docteurs, comme il est dit cy dessus, a avoir voix et suffrage dans
les assemblies et actes tant de la facults que de I'universit6 sans
qu'ils puissent estre supplies ; et quand aux assemblies de 1'uni-
versite qui seront de ceremonies publiques, les autres docteurs
pourrent y assister sans pouvoir deliberer ayant ete resus gratis.
DECIMO
Les gradues et docteurs Irlandais se conformeront au surplus
a tous les reglemens de 1'universite et des facultes cy devant faits
a leur regard en ce qui ne se trouvera point du contraire aux
presentes conditions notament au sujet du decanat et rectorat.
II a encore ete arreste et enonce par Monsieur le Eecteur
qu'une copie de la presente sera delivree au Sieur O'Byrne et
une autre envoyee a Monsieur le Procureur General du parle-
ment et que les lettres patentes, arrest de la cour et requeste
dont il s'agist seront enregistrees sur le livre des deliberations
pour y avoir recours au besoin.
Signe
BONNAMY, Pr. General.
Such were the constitutions of this university college of
the eighteenth century, and no one can doubt the ability
and precision with which they were framed. They were at
once accepted by the Parliament, which added scarcely a
word to them, except to emphasize still more that the
foundation was for Irish students, and no others, and that
its sole raison d'etre was the preparation of priests for the
mission in Ireland, whither they were bound to return on
the completion of their college course. They repeat the
order of the University with respect to the local colour of
the theology to be taught in the new seminary, and they
ordain that nothing be taught ' de contraire aux libertes de
VOL. III. *
338 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
1'eglise Gallicane, surtout a la declaration de 1682.' l They
further confirmed a clause in the royal letters by which
the Irish Seminary was entitled to receive donations and
bequests, and they agreed also to the suppression of the
priory of St. Crispin, in the diocese of Nantes, which was
held by the president as a personal appanage, but which
henceforward was to belong to the Seminary in its corpo-
rate capacity. All these facts and privileges were registered in
the Bureau of the Breton Parliament, on 14th August, 1766. 2
Having given at such length the conditions of studies
and tenure of the Seminary, we may now resume the annals
of the house. In 1767 the personnel remained unchanged,
except that a new member joined the faculty as professor.
His name is given as Dr. Picamilli, which certainly does
not savour of Ireland. There was then no change until
1769, when Dr. O'Donoghue came into residence. This
community continues until 1777, when the Annuaire gives
the list of priests as follows : —
Superior, M. DANIEL O'BYKNB.
Univ. Docteurs : MAcHuoo en Irlande.
O'LOGHLIN ,,
SHENANT ,,
DONOGHUE ,,
O'FALON Professeur de faculte aux Irlandais.
O'FuNN Professeur de Philosophic aux Irian-
dais.
In 1778 we find Father O'Falon absent, and in 1779
Father O'Connor comes into view. In 1780 the position of
president is marked vacat, and here Father Daniel O'Byrne
falls out of the annals of the place ; for on December 18,
1778, I find the following record : —
V. et D. O'Byrne, pretre superieur du Seminaire des Irlandais
de Nantes oii il est mort.
I am sorry I cannot give any particulars of the birth or
lineage of this distinguished man. The details concerning
his personal character can only be deduced from the public
1 Archives Curieuses de la Vilk de Nantes. Par F. J. Verger, tome iii.,
p. 242.
2 Jieyistres dc la Chambre des Comptes de Bretagne.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 339
acts associated with his name. That he was a man of
ability is evidenced by his academic distinction, and his tact
and energy are clearly shown by his success in the difficult
work of obtaining tha royal charter for his college. I should
be glad to fix the diocese that gave the Irish exiles in
Brittany such a distinguished leader ; but the absolute
dearth of evidence hinders me giving any opinion which
would avail more than the merest conjecture in settling the
question. Perhaps some documents may be found in Ireland
that can throw some light upon his early days; but I am safe in
saying there are none such in Nantes. I cannot even
determine the place of his burial, and must be content to
breathe a prayer that he may rest well in his nameless
foreign grave.
The members of the community for 1780 are given in
this form in the Annuaire : —
(Super, (vacat)
Univ. Docteurs : O'LOGHLIN en Irlande.
SHENANT ,,
O'DONOGHUE ,,
O'FuNN Professeur de la faculte aux Irlandais.
O'CONNOR Vicaire de la Marne.
JEAN WALSH en Irlande.
This is the first mention of the name Walsh in connec-
tion with the Seminary, but it afterwards occurs every year
until the revolution. In 1781 the list reads : —
Superior, Monsieur WALSH.
Univ. Docteur : O'LOGHLIN en Irlande.
SHENANT ,,
DONOGHUE ,,
O'FLINN professeur de la faculte aux Irlandais.
JEAN WALSH en Irlande.
J. B. WALSH l Docteur de la Faculte de Paris
agrege i\ cette de Nantes, Superieur de
Seminaire des Irlandais.
1 This very distinguished man was not a native of Ireland, but came of
Irish ancestry. His family reached Nantes with James II., and were noted
for their fealty to the royal cause. They became nobles of France, and settled
at the Chateau of Serrant, in Anjou. They, perhaps, were the best known of
340 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
In 1782 the same names occur, with the addition of
these others : —
O'KEARDON en Irlande.
GRANGER Irlandais.
In 1783 a very interesting list is given, which throws
some light upon the antecedents of the members of the
community. They reached this year the largest number
yet recorded, and are given in this way : —
Superior, M. WALSH.
Univ. Docteurs : O'LOGHLIN Archediacre de Killaloe en Irlande.
SHENAN Vicaire de Kilfenora „
O'DoNOGHUE Eecteur de Birr ,,
O'FLYNN Professor de la faculte aux Irlandais.
O'CoNOR Aumonier du Eegiment du Maire.
JEAN WALSH Vicaire de Couna (?) en Irlande.
WALSH docteur comme en 1681.
L'ouis WALSH Vicaire de Eoss en Irlande.
STAPLETON Procureur du Seminaire.
GRANGER Professeur dudit Seminaire.
O'EioRDAN en Irlande.
From this it follows that many members of the house
were not in residence, but retained their rights in it even
after they had returned home, and entered upon the work
of their dioceses. From the important charges confided to
them by their ordinaries we may conclude that the discipline
and schools of Nantes were successful in moulding worthily
the characters and talents of the men confided to their care.
The year following1 the list remains unchanged, except that
Father Coyle is added, with his residence given as at
Home. In 1787 the new president is given as Monsieur
the Irish exiles, and have won great distinction from the brilliant writers they
have given to France during the past two centuries. When about to undertake
my researches in the archives and libraries of the city, I had some doubt as to
whether I should receive all the help I needed, but was assured by a member
of the Comeil General of the department that my name would be an 'open
sesame ' to all the archaeological treasures of the city.
1 At this period the Superioress of the Hotel Dieu of the city is given in
the Annuaire as Madame "Walsh, who must have been of Irish birth or
extraction.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 341
O'Byrne, and with him the following doctors of the
University : —
O'LoGHLiN ut supra.
SHENAN ,,
O'DONOGHUE „
O'FLYN a Aigrefeuille.
O'CoNNoE ut supra.
JEAN WALSH ,,
Louis WALSH ,,
J. B. WALSH docteur de la faculte de Paris
aggrege a cette de Nantes, a chateau de
Serrant.
O'KiOKDAN en Irlande.
GRANGER ,,
STAPLELON ,,
COYLE ,,
The new president was an alumnus of the college which
he was now to rule. He was born, in 1757, of respectable
parents, in the parish of Clonfeacle, county Tyrone, and at
the close of his classical studies came as a student to Nantes.
At the close of his course he stood the usual tests of the
University, and, having made all the acts according to the
charter, was declared doctor of divinity, en Sorhonne. He
was afterwards chaplain to the Due d'Angouleme, and on
the occasion of his appointment was presented with a rich
set of vestments, which are still, I believe, in the possession
of some of his kinsmen in the diocese of Armagh. His
term of office in Nantes coincided with stirring times, as we
shall see in the sequel.
In 1788 the community remained practically the same,
the last in the list for this year being another Dr. O'Byrne,
of the Faculty of Paris, who is given as Professor of
Theology and Hector of the Irish Seminary. From the
records I cannot judge exactly whether this is not the same
as the Superior of Nantes, who this year is entitled grand
vicaire d' Armagh. In 1789, Dr. Walter Walsh is added to
the names given in the preceding year ; but he is a non-
resident member of the community. The house remained
practically unchanged during the two succeeding years, and
in 1792, for the last time, the community of Irish priests is
342 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
given in the Annuaire of the province. It consists of the
following : —
O'BYKNE (Patrice-Jacques) superieur, docteur en Sorbonne,
Grand Vicaire d' Armagh.
COYLE, pretre, docteur en theologie,
O'CONNOR „ „
O'DONOGHUE „ „
STAPLETON ,, ,,
WALSH (Gautier) (Jean-Baptiste).
Le Seminaire contient de 70 a 80 seminaristes.
During the year 1792 the fatal tide of the great revolu-
tion was flowing at its highest through France, and was fast
submerging in its waters every vestige of religious prin-
ciples. The whole fabric of religion was being sapped to
its very foundations, and there seemed no one left to make
any worthy resistance to the influences that were openly
destroying the true life of France. It is a fact of which we
may well feel proud that our countrymen in the Seminary
of Nantes did not remain inactive at this supreme crisis.
Among the faithless they were faithful found, and through
their brave resistance to the principles of those evil days
they brought upon themselves the anger of the authorities,
who in Nantes, as elsewhere, had already caught the deadly
contagion. On July 2, 1792, their action was brought before
the Municipal Council, and the following order was issued
in their regard : —
Le Conseil ou'i ces renseignements, considerant que les pretres
Irlandais, d'apres les sentiments qu'ils ont manifestos sur notre
glorieuse revolution ne peuvent que concourir par des manoeuvres
secretes, conjointement avec les pretres non-assermentes a executer
et entretenir les troubles et le fanatisme; considerant que le local
dont ils jouissent est un demembrernent du domain national,
auquel il doit etre reuni ; considerant qu'infractaires des condi-
tions auxquelles ils ont promis d'etre fideles et de se soumettre
aux lois civiles et religieuses de 1'etat ils ont eux memes rompu le
traite qui leurs garantissent un asile paisible et les bienfaits d'un
peuple libre et genereux ; considerant enfin qu'il serait aussi
injuste qu'impolitique que la loi qui a frappe les pretres qui
refusent de reconnaitre cette souverainete du peuple n'atteignit
pas ceux-ci par ce qu'ils sont etrangers, eux qui veulent mecon-
naitre cette scuverainete qui les protege, le procuretir de la
commune entendu dans ses conclusions le conseil general est
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 343
d'avis que le directoire du department peut et doit exercer a leur
egard les memes moyens de repression et se resaissir au profit de
la nation des biens dont elle leur avait conditionellement accorde
la jouissance.1
However false the conclusions of the Council may have
been, there can be no doubt that their premisses were
absolutely true. Further evidence of the spirit prevailing
in the Seminary was brought before the authorities in
August 23 of the same year,2 when it was testified, in public
session, that the Masses celebrated by the Irish priests at
the Chapel of Bon Secours brought together large crowds,
which became the occasion of disorder and tumult, such as
the authorities were bound to prevent ; and in consequence
the Irish priests were forbidden to celebrate Mass in the
Chapel of Bon Secours,3 or in any other except that attached
to their residence.
This measure did not suffice to repress the ardour of the
exiles, and a further order was made, on September 10,
1792, which took from them what remained of their liberty.
In the municipal register for that date I find the follow-
ing :—
Sur la plainte portee par plusieurs citoyens centre quelques
pretres Irlandais, pour injures et propos tres grossiers par eux
tenus contre la garde national, le Conseil charge de Procureur de
la Commune de leur notifier 1'ordre qui leur defend jde sortir de
leur maison et de vaguer dans les rues de cette ville sous peine et
d'etre detenus au chateau, meme d'etre exportes de la France.4
Life had evidently become insupportable under such a
regime as this ; the reign of terror had at length been
realized in all its horrors ; and it was only a question of a
little time until the last threat should be verified. How the
interval was spent in the Seminary, which was now become
their prison, I have no document to sustain any surmise ;
1 Archives Curicuses de la Vilde den Nantes. Par F. J. Verger, tome iii.,
p. 242.
2 fbulem, p. 280.
3 This chapel was near the cathedral, and close by the river ; its ruins are
yet to be seen. The altar in use during the last century is now in a
church at Basse-Goulaine, near Saint- Sebastien. My attention was called by
Monsieur Bonamy de la Ville to this interesting relic of our exiled countrymen.
* Verger, tome v., p. 289.
344 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
but that strange things must have happened between
September, 1792, and April 5, 1793, we may deduce from
the following paragraph : —
Les pretres Irlandais detenus aux Carmelites obtiennent la
permission de s'embarquer sur un navire de leur nation, la
' Peggi,' allant a Cork.1
So ended the story of the Irish Seminary at Nantes.
The further fortunes of the returned exiles lie outside the
limits of this paper, and I cannot follow them in their
subsequent careers. Of the distinguished man who was the
last superior I may, however, be allowed to say a word. On
his return to Ireland he ruled successively two parishes in
his diocese, and then became President of Maynooth, hold-
ing this high office for three years, when he resigned. I
believe his portrait is still in the National College. He
afterwards became Dean and Vicar-General of the prima-
tial see, and died as parish priest of Armagh.
I have given at such great length the history of the
Nantes' Seminary because it is the strongest link in the
chain that binds Ireland to Brittany. I regret the material
under my hands does not enable me to give the narrative
any of those personal touches that give life and colour to
such a story. I have been able only to give a bare outline
of facts which, though of great moment to the purpose I
have in view, yet cannot but be, from the nature of the case,
very dry reading. The absence of all .literary remains
on the part of the occupants is remarkable in relation to a
college of such eminence ; but not a line, so far as I can
find, survives to show what manner of men those were
who, in their day, attained to such academic distinction.
We must suppose that the stress of their daily duties
absorbed all their intellectual energies, and left no time for
the more enduring work which outlives its author, and
grows more precious with the passing of the years.
Perhaps, too, my personal sympathy enters more largely
1 Premier register des deliberations du Comite Central. Verger, tome v., p 433.
a I rather suspect this Italian name may well have had another and more
familiar form ; in fact, I believe under this disguise we have the name whose
praises Father Prout sang so well.
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 345
into this than the other chapters, and in this way I have
been led to seek out its details with all possible fulness.
With all the exiles I have a fellow-feeling, but with these
especially, since within a stone-throw of their home I am
engaged in work precisely similar to that to which they
devoted their lives.
A. WALSH, O.S.A:
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS
IN August, 1897, this review put into print a few un-
published letters of Cardinal Newman, Father Peter
Kenny, S.J., Dr. Kieran of Dundalk, and Dr. Whitehead
of Maynooth. The example thus set was meant to be
contagious. It may, indeed, in cases that have not come
under our notice, have induced some to look over their
bundles of old letters ; and in two instances it has added
to our own store of such documents.
Sir Henry Bellingham, Bart., of Castlebellingham, in
County Louth, broke through all the prejudices of his race
and class, and entered the Catholic Church about thirty
years ago. He married Lady Constance Noel, daughter
of another convert, the Earl of Gainsborough, better
known, perhaps, by the title which he held at the time
of his conversion, Viscount Campden. Ten years ago
Mr. Bellingham — as he then was, in the lifetime of his
father Sir Allan Bellingham — seems to have mentioned to
Cardinal Manning a letter addressed by the latter to
Lord Gainsborough, which had come into Mr. Bellingham's
possession.
ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE, WESTMINSTER,
January 2Qth, 1888.
MY DEAR MR. BELLINGHAM, — Your mention of the letter which
I did not know to exist, is very interesting to me, and makes me
wish to see it. If you will kindly let me have it, it shall be
returned to you. Or come here, and let me see it.
Always very truly yours,
<?& HENRY B., Card. Archbishop,
To HENRY BELLINGHAM, ESQ., M.P.
346 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The following is the letter asked for, written thirty-
seven years before, when Archdeacon Manning had just
given up his Anglican living : —
44, CADOGAN PLACE,
January ]4</t, 1851.
MY DEAR FRIEND, — Your letter has just reached me. Eumours
have already made premature statements of the step you now
announce. God grant it may have been His will and guidance.
I c^n never forget the bond which is (I will not say was) between
us, and I trust it may never be dissolved.
Since we parted I have been through deep sorrow. My
conviction had long been formed that I could not continue to
hold on, under oath and subscription ; but obedience to others
made me wait. When this anti-Eoman uproar broke forth, I
resolved at once. I could lift no hand in so bad a quarrel,
either to defend a Royal Supremacy which has proved itself to
be indefensible, or against a supremacy which the Church for
six hundred years obeyed. I therefore at once went to the
Bishop of Chichester, and requested him to receive my resigna-
tion. He was most kind in desiring me to take time; but I,
after a few days, wrote my final resignation.
What my human affections have suffered in leaving my only
home and flock, where for eighteen years my whole life as a man
has been spent, no words can say ; but God gave me grace to
lay it all at the foot of the Cross, where I am ready, if it be His
will, to lay down whatever yet remains to me. Let me have
your prayers for light and strength.
May God ever keep you.
With my kindest remembrances to Lady Campden,
Believe me, my dear friend,
Yours very affectionately,
H. E. M.
To THE VISCOUNT CAMPDEN.
Sir Henry Bellingham, to whose kindness we owe
the privilege of printing the preceding letter, published,
about twenty years ago, a valuable work on the ' Social
Aspects of Catholicism and Protestantism.' Lady Constance
Bellingham presented a copy to Dr. Newman. Here is his
letter of thanks : —
THE ORATORY,
June 8th, 1878.
DEAR LADY CONSTANCE, — Thank you for your kind and
welcome letter and for the gift which it heralded. I am very
glad to have a volume on a subject so interesting and at this
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 347
time so needing a careful discussion. I have read enough already
to understand with great satisfaction that Mr. Bellingham,
abstaining from the generalities and assumptions so frequent just
now, argues out his points on the basis of an accumulation of
facts and of unbiassed and even hostile testimony. I am often
asked by Catholics for a book on the subject he has taken, and
it is so pleasant to have reason for anticipating that he has supplied
so serious a want.
I am, my dear Lady Constance,
Sincerely yours,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
To LADY CONSTANCE BELLINGHAM.
Nearly ten years later Cardinal Newman wrote the
following letter to Sir Henry Bellingham : —
THE ORATOKY, BIRMINGHAM,
Feb. 1th, 1887.
MY DEAR SIR, — I thank you very sincerely for your kindness
in sending for my perusal the interesting correspondence between
the Bishop of Winchester and Canon Wilberforce. I have taken
the date of the newspaper in which it occurs, and will bring it
before those who are able, and may be willing, to take the subject
up. But it is a subject which requires very delicate and exact
treatment, and a complete knowledge of the facts of the case.
Speaking under correction, I should say that the High
Church, even the ' High and Dry,' have always held, as by a
tradition, that the identity of the Anglican Church was not
broken at the Reformation. The peculiarity of Ritualists is not
this principle, but the introduction of Roman doctrines into their
worship, such as the Mass. The Ritualists and High Church
agree together in holding the ante and post identity of the
Anglican Church, resting, as they can, on the unlucky fact of its
having continued all along in possession. This has been its one
note, to the exclusion of the four notes of the Creed. What
Ritualism, as well as Tractarianism, has risen up to oppose and
rival is not High Churchism, but the Evangelical schools.
My fingers will not write, and a friend has been kind enough
to take my pen for me.
Very truly yours,
ifc JOHN H. CARD. NEWMAN.
To H. BELLINGHAM, Esq.
Another document which the August ' Batch of Letters '
was the means of placing in our hands is a long letter
which the Very Kev. James Maher, P.P., of Carlow Graigue,
348 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
uncle to Cardinal Cullen, sent from Rome to his brother-in-
law, Mr. Edmund Cullen, more than fifty years ago. The
physicians had ordered for him a long period of rest after a
serious illness. He spent the year 1845 in the Eternal
City, returning to Carlow in June, 1846. We may mention
that he was born in 1793, and died in 1874.
This letter was not discovered in time to be included
in the large volume which Cardinal Moran published of his
grand-uncle's correspondence. We owe it to the kindness of
Mrs. Maher, of Moyvoughly, who received it from Mother
Paul, of the Convent of Mercy, Westport, the only survivor
out of the large family of the gentleman to whom this letter
was addressed. Father Maher's two sisters were married
to two brothers — Mary to Hugh Cullen, father of the first
Irish cardinal of our day, and Margaret to Edmund Cullen,
the recipient of the following letter : —
THE IBISH COLLEGE, ROME,
11th February, 1845.
MY DEAR SIR, — Your friends at Eome, though they have not
troubled you with many letters, have never been forgetful of you.
Every day we remember you at the altar in our supplications. It is
one of the great consolations of our holy religion, that friends, no
matter how far separated, are, as it were, brought together daily,
and united by charity, helping and aiding each other by their
prayers and good works.
Father Tom has left us a few days since, bringing with him the
affectionate regards of all his Eoman acquaintances. He was a
great favourite in the Irish College ; his time in Italy has been
turned to the best account ; he has laid up a good store of
ecclesiastical knowledge, which he will find of infinite advantage
in the discharge of his sacred duties. He has, we have every
reason to believe, imbibed the true spirit of his vocation:
zealous for spiritual things — the honour and glory of God — and
perfectly indifferent as to the things of this life. May heaven
grant him grace to persevere to the end !
Dr. Cullen, in consequence of his delicate health (and he is far
from being strong) is thinking of going to Ireland after Easter, and
I remain for a time to look after the affairs of the establishment.
He will travel home in company with Dr. Haly. The bishop's
visit to Eome has improved his health ; he is greatly pleased with
everything here in the Christian capital, especially with the
talent, piety, knowledge, and ecclesiastical spirit of the Irish
College ; he has sent a candle by Father Tom to his mother,
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 349
blessed by the Pope, and carried by the bishop in the procession
at St. Peter's, on the Feast of the Purification. It is, perhaps,
the prettiest piece of waxwork you have ever seen. It has not, I
hope, been injured by the journey ; it will be a fine emblem of our
faith, burning brightly, as, entering the dark portals of death, we
close our eyes for the last time upon the transitory glories of this
world, to open them, as we humbly hope, to the beatific vision of
God in the next.
How many unexpected events have occurred since last I had
the pleasure of writing to you. Four priests of the diocese (three
of them rather young) have been called to the other world. On
hearing of Father Doran's death (a priest whom I greatly
esteemed), the thought forced itself on me, times innumerable,
that we, whether old or young, have in good truth very little
business in this life, beyond making a good preparation to leave
it. Who could have thought a few months ago, that the grave
would so soon have closed over him ? How much of life and vigour
and health he enjoyed when I, one year since, left him, delicate
and infirm myself; and yet here am I now in health (how
inscrutable are the ways of heaven !) discoursing of his death. If
death be on his march, and sure to triumph whenever he arrives,
we are not, however, blessed be God, without cheering prospects
at the other side of the grave, ' God so loved the world [his
Apostle tells us], as to give His only begotton Son, that whoso-
ever believeth in Him may not (perish,' but may have life
everlasting. Here we have firm footing ; here we have the
ground of hope. Earthly life is only the infancy of man, a
mere commencement of existence. When we pass it, eternal
life begins. To see Jesus Christ, our divine Saviour, in His
glory even for one moment, would afford more happiness than
has ever been enjoyed by mortal in 
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